Broomhill Sands, also known as Jury’s Gap, underwent a £20 million capital scheme in 2015 to ensure the continued protection of the low lying hinterland and vast floodplain. The scheme is part of the Folkestone to Cliff End Strategy and was delivered by Mackley working as part of Team Van Oord (on behalf of the Environment Agency) in 2016. It covers approximately 2.4km of coastline in East Sussex, between Suttons at Camber to the western boundary of Lydd Ranges. The key features within the scheme are:
- Shingle beach – beach recharge along the western 700m of coastal fronting the Sutton properties
- Eight new timber groynes (54m in length) to replace old dilapidated groynes and stabilise the beach and retain beach material.
- Rock revetment (1,700m) – flood protection for Broomhill, the car park, Jury’s Gap and the extension.
- Wave wall (pre-cast concrete)
The scheme also included improvements to access (and to allow for future maintenance) with the addition of:
- Two maintenance ramps
- Six sets of pedestrian steps (timber)
- Suttons ramp
- Four car park access steps
- Pedestrian access ramp
The scheme aims to increase the standard of protection from one in five to one in 200 years, which also accounts for changes in sea level rise and climate change. Since the capital scheme, the beach has been slightly accretive in the new timber groyne field. Erosion of material fronting the rock revetment has been measured and most eastern parts are now below the required beach design level for the rock revetment toe weighting. The scheme will provide improved protection from the risk of flooding for 1,831 properties, 825 of which are residential.