Sinkhole indicates crumbling seaside promenade

A sinkhole on an "old and tired" seafront promenade is an example of how the weather has "exacerbated" its deterioration, a council said.

It was discovered in Hunstanton in Norfolk on Thursday and has been fenced off, alongside a section of beach, while surveys and repair work was carried out.

Last year, investigations into the stability of the walkway and sea wall found voids in the prom, and Sandra Squire, cabinet member at the Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk, said it was "not an issue we weren't aware of".

She said: "We are in the middle of winter; we could end up having some more storms come in; we just have to wait and see and hope that it's not too bad."

Following the discovery of the cavity, a section of the promenade and beach near the Waterside Bar and Oasis leisure centre has been fenced off which is expected to remain in place for weeks.

Speaking to Chris Goreham on the BBC Radio Norfolk Breakfast programme, Squire said: "Beach levels have dropped rather quicker than what we anticipated and, with the bad weather we are having, it has made things move a little faster than we were expecting so it's nothing we're surprised about, it's that we're having to deal with it a lot sooner."

After inspecting the cavity, Squire said there is damage to asphalt around the sinkhole meaning it could get bigger.

The surface of the promenade was put down in the 1950s, and in August last year the council said more than 300 of the concrete slabs on the promenade could need replacing, with a 10-tonne vehicle weight limit imposed.

At the time, the authority discovered sections of the sea wall including those near Oasis and the pier were "at risk of structural failure" and the promenade surface was "reaching the end of life".

The authority previously said work to repair the whole prom could take more than two years and cost "multiple millions".

However, Squire said the council had been "patching" and repairing cracks "for a long time".

"The poor weather we've had this winter has exacerbated the whole thing," she said.

She said she was grateful the incident had not happened during the summer season.

While people were still able to visit the seafront, she urged them to stay away from any fenced-off areas.

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