Will Britain’s playground of the rich end up with a 15ft wall around it?
SOME of Brtain’s most expensive homes could be left underwater unless a sea wall is build around the exclusive Dorset peninsula of Sandbanks, residents have said.
Sandbanks, dubbed “Britain’s Palm Beach”, has the fourth highest land value in the world and counts former Spurs manager Harry Redknapp and his wife Sandra among its affluent residents.
However, without action, coastal erosion super-charged by climate change will wash away the spit of land partially crossing the mouth of Poole Harbour in a little as 20 years.
Official reports also predict that all the beachfront properties would be completely lost, including the £3.5million mansion that was bought by Redknapp in 2015.
A deal struck in June has secured £33million in public funds to tackle erosion by replenishing beaches with sand dredged from the sea bed and rebuilding groynes, which prevent sand being carried eastward.
But residents say this does not solve the problem of rising sea levels due to climate change and they are calling for a wall to be constructed around the resort which could rise 15ft out of the sea.
Robert Webb, a committee member on the Sandbanks Community Group, said the council scheme “does not begin to address the rather larger questions posed by climate change and rising sea-levels”.
“A sea wall would seem to me to be utterly sensible and probably the most economical solution,” he added.
“If no one did anything, the causeway would disappear and the island of Sandbanks would be a remarkably different shape.”
Mr Webb said the community group, which counts about half of the Sandbanks residents as its members, is having talks with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council about how to protect the peninsula from the impacts of climate change.
Without a scheme to build a sea wall,
WATERSIDE HOMES: Fears are now growing that they will be swept away residents would be forced to defend their individual properties, believes Mr Webb.
“While they’re forecasting a sea level by 2100 that maybe 1.6, maybe 2.4, who knows maybe four metres above where it is now, this is not going to happen bang in the year 2080. It’s going to happen at 2cm a year for the next 100 years and therefore you’ll have piecemeal solutions which will be ineffective and costly,” he said.
“It needs to be part of a strategy rather than every couple of years just putting a sticking plaster up.
“Otherwise you’ll end up with Sandbanks looking like someone has put 80 years of sticking plasters over it.”
Famous past and present residents of Sandbanks include Harry Redknapp’s son Jamie, Liverpool star Graeme Souness and ex-stoke manager Tony Pulis.
An official report on the future of Poole Bay said that if sea defences were not maintained “there would be loss of the beach and property along the whole frontage including the area of the cliffs at the northern end of the zone”.
And it gave the ominous warning: “As a result of this erosion, access to Sandbanks would be cut.”
A spokesperson for Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch Council said they were aware of the future risk posed to Sandbanks by sea level rise and coastal erosion.
The back gardens of many of the homes run straight down to the waters edge. They added: “Future planned interventions, which can include defence schemes, would require the council to bid for government funding by demonstrating economic and financial viability.”
In 2018, a tiny stretch of land in Sandbanks was valued at £93million, despite containing just 13 homes.
It meant that Panorama Road was the most expensive area of coastline in the world in terms of price per square foot.
The enclave is a peninsular, meaning space is at a premium. It has unrivalled views of Poole Harbour, the world’s second largest natural harbour.