Huge sand-moving op starts at resort beach

DIGGERS moved onto a popular Gwynedd beach last week to shift vast quantities of windblown sand. Huge dunes have built up on the Barmouth shoreline with the volume of sand in danger of smothering a lifeboat slipway.

- Andrew Forgrave

A digger removing sand from Barmouth beach near the Gwynedd resort's RNLI lifeboat station. PICTURE: KNICKERBOCKERS ICE CREAM PARLOUR

(KNICKERBOCKERS ICE CREAM PARLOUR)

At the end of the main summer season, the massive sand drifts need clearing to prevent sand encroaching further towards the town. Deep trenches are dug alongside the slipway to keep the sand at bay and sure the resort's lifeboats can carry out their lifesaving work.

Collected sand is trucked to the north end of the promenade where the opposite problem is happening. Shoreline losses can lead to scouring and in 2020, a section of promenade collapsed when its foundations were washed away.

This week's operation gave a taste of the work needed for a new coastal defence scheme that's planned for Barmouth's North Promenade. With existing defences in “poor condition”, a pre-planning application will be submitted this month for improvements along a 1.2km stretch of coastline. Construction is due to start next autumn.

Davina Lynch, owner of Knickerbockers Ice Cream Parlour, shared a video of the recent work to illustrate the scale of the task. She said: “I imagine they focused on this area so the lifeboats can deploy easily. When I first came here 30 years ago, there were no dunes on the beach. Now they're getting so high I'm struggling to see the sea from my window.