Wyre Beach Management Scheme at Fleetwood

The Wyre Beach Management Scheme is already well underway in Cleveleys. Works are now complete at Fleetwood, including reinstatement of the grassy field used for the site compound.

Wyre Council, in partnership with Balfour Beatty, are progressing the Wyre Beach Management Scheme. It’s a coast defence project which aims to significantly reduce the risk of coastal erosion and flooding to over 11,000 properties and critical infrastructure along our coastline.

This visual of Cleveleys beach shows you what the finished groynes and toe protection will look like when complete. The groyne/crossover ramp arrangement is very similar to the completed Rossall Sea Defence Scheme at Larkholme.

• All about the Wyre Beach Management Scheme, at Cleveleys and Fleetwood, here

This video, made on 30 November 2023, explains more about the compound at Fleetwood and the works themselves –

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Wyre Beach Management Scheme at Fleetwood

The Fleetwood section of works is now complete, on schedule, as of early 2025.

Similar to works at Cleveleys, toe protection, rock groynes and crossover ramps have been built at Fleetwood. The work continues from almost the end of the Rossall Coastal Defence Scheme, completed in 2018, around the tip of Rossall Point. Past the Tower, to midpoint of the large boating lake.

The rock groynes join up to the toe protection and the crossover ramps provide pedestrian access should beach levels drop in the future. Two of the groynes also have a marker pole at the end – you can just see the dots on the drawing below.

The groynes reduce the energy of waves across the headland, enabling beach levels to reach the level they need to. More importantly it helps to stabilise the beach and keep beach material in place during stormy weather. This helps to protect against erosion and overtopping.

Did you spot the little gap between the (pink) 2018 Rossall Scheme and the (yellow) work to come? These areas have a deep toe and sheet piles. The sea defences are all constructed in sections over the decades and construction methods vary from area to area.

Now it’s complete the toe protection (parallel to the sea wall) has almost disappeared. Much of the stone in the groynes will disappear from view too. When groynes are doing their job they become like an iceberg, with a bit showing above the sand and a lot hidden underneath it. There’s also a new bird roost too in front of Rossall Tower.

Site Compound

A temporary site compound was constructed in the open space opposite the Sea Cadets. The compound served as storage area for plant and materials and the site offices were located there. The blue line on the plan below indicates the boundary.

The compound area of the field has been out of bounds during the works but beach access maintained throughout.

Works programme

• First of all, Lancashire County Council (as the highway authority) built an entrance and exit from the main road.
• Then the site compound was set up including a haul road. That’s quite a big job in itself and took a few months, from November 2023 to the end of March 2024.
• Imports of rock began in early March 2024 to create a stockpile of material.
• Then beach works began at the end of April 2024, complete by early 2025
• The original schedule expected reinstatement of the site compound to be complete by autumn 2025. However, with works ahead of schedule, most of the compound was cleared away by April 2025.

An outstanding piece of work is a delay on relaying the grass field. This final reinstatement has been held up due to pieces of glass surfacing in the topsoil. Before the compound was constructed the top soil was scraped off to one side, ready to relay after completion. Apparently this field was once used as a tip and historic rubble and glass fragments have now come to the surface.

Fringe Benefits

Not only does this scheme provide protection to Fleetwood’s coastline, it also means that the car park next to the Log Cabin has been resurfaced! The previously pot-holed rough limestone surface is now smooth tarmac.

Protecting Wildlife

The beach at Fleetwood is a quieter landscape than neighbouring seaside beaches, so it’s a home to local and visiting wildlife.

Each morning the route is walked from the compound to the site of that days work, checking for nests and any other issues. When nests are spotted they are cordoned off with cones to create an exclusion zone. This exclusion zone is avoided by people and machinery until the birds have fledged and the nest is empty. Wyre Council Rangers are informed of the position of any nests. They also share knowledge and information with all of the team about how to work in this special environment.

Ironically, the construction work does have a benefit to nesting birds. It keeps people and dogs away from the beach – and the birds don’t seem remotely concerned by the machinery! Unfortunately, all nesting birds on such a busy coastline are susceptible to predators and accidental recreational disturbance. The birds survival strategy is to be hard to see and once the eggs have hatched to encourage the young birds away from the nest so they are less obvious to predators.

Find out More

If you would like to find out more about the scheme then please call into The Venue at North Promenade Cleveleys on Thursday mornings between 9am and 12 noon. Jane Littlewood is the Public Liaison Officer for the scheme and is available to answer any questions or concerns you have regarding the project.

You can also contact Jane by email at jane@therabbitpatch.co.uk or by phone on 07932 143431.

Don’t forget that there’s a full overview of the entire Wyre Beach Management Scheme, at Cleveleys and Fleetwood, here

• Find the latest updates from Cleveleys beach here
• Keep an eye on the Visit Cleveleys and Visit Fleetwood Facebook pages for regular short photo updates.
• You’ll also find everything explained from the needle to the thread in a series of videos on the Visit Fylde Coast YouTube channel.