BLACKPOOL SERVICES – COASTAL DEFENCE

LOWER WALK FISHING

Mark Anderson Oct 2010

Back ground.

Lower Walk is a concrete walkway immediately behind the sea wall that runs from Little Bispham to North Pier. The area is popular for sea fishing. There are some benefits with the presence of the fishermen - vandalism when the fishermen are present is significantly reduced and the fishermen are known to have raised the alarm/assisted in rescue incidents. However, when the fishermen drive and park in the areas, the vehicles raise several issues.

  1. All vehicles, unless authorised by the Council are illegal.
  2. The fishermen’s vehicles pose a hazard to the public promenading.
  3. In some instances, the vehicles have restricted the access to emergency services.
  4. Potential conflict between the trams and fishermen’s vehicles when gaining access to the area.

If parking was to be introduced there would be two options available:

  1. Create a parking area with a barrier system with costs being charged to the fishermen
  1. Allow a designated area for the fishermen’s vehicles with a permit system that could self fund the enforcement of the parking area.

OPTION 1 – USE OF BARRIERS

Barriers could be employed to either prevent all access or used as a control to allow permitted vehicles pass. To guarantee full control, barriers will be required at all access/egress points. These are:

Princes Way, Little Bispham 2 barriers required. (see photo 3)

Norbreck 1 barrier (see photo 2)

Red Bank Road1 barrier

Middle Walk, Gynn1 barrier

Cocker Square1 barrier #

North Pier1 barrier #

# this area currently under construction and subject to review following completion of the new sea wall.

Cost

A typical barrier is approximately £2000 each. However, due to the extreme hostility of Lower Walk, a significantly more robust item will be required. This will still be no guarantee on the barriers life span due to the environment and potential vandalism. Therefore an approximate cost per unit could be £5,000. Additionally, an electrical supply is not readily available for these locations and as an estimate, each supply would cost in the region of £4,000 each.

Therefore, to supply and install 7 barriers, an estimated cost to the Council would be £63,000. Please note, this does not allow for maintenance that could exceed £1,000 per item per annum or possibly a replacement unit every year.

Emergency services must also be considered. The Council would require a stringent maintenance regime to ensure all barriers operated in the event of an emergency rescue. The control of these barriers must also be considered as how the emergency services can operate them but without significant delay.The above figures have allowed for 100 swipe cards. Additional cards would be in the region of £5 each. Permits could be issued by Parking Services and posted to the applicant. The level of patrol would need evaluating and the current level may need to be slightly increased, especially at the beginning of the permit system.

OPTION 2 – Allow vehicleswith permit system

This would not prevent unauthorised access but could be effective in the long run as word of mouth would spread through the fishing community. The income from the fines would offset the cost to patrol the area, ideally 1 hour either side of high tide.

There are two options available:

  1. Unrestricted access
  2. Restricted access.

Unrestricted access will not be considered due to the potential conflicts involving the fishermen’s vehicles and the tramway, pedestrians and emergency services.

Restricted access.

The use of barriers to control a designated area was previously discussed; therefore, the only viable option is to identify an area that would be manageable for the Council and acceptable to the fishermen.

The stretch of lower Walk from Little Bispham to Norbreck is split into two levels (see photo 1), upper and lower. It is approximately 1300m long and would accommodate at least 250 cars on the lower level, leaving the upper level for promenading. Access and egress would be gained at one point only (see photo 3)as detailed on the permit application form. This would remove the need for barriers. There may be a slight increase of vehicles using illegal crossing elsewhere, but with the increased patrols the message should soon be understood. It is likely that the number of infringements would be similar to the current levels which have been significantly reduced since the installation of the prohibition signs. This could be controlled by enforcement signage (in place) and restrictions on the permit identifying this location as the only access and egress point.

A self policing permit system could be introduced. The holders of the permits could report non holders as well as offenders to the council and permits revoked, vehicles fined. The existing laws/bye-laws may need amendment.

Permit holders could be restricted to certain angling times, for instance no fishing between 10 am to 6 pm. Additional signage would be required delineating the area.

The cost to patrol the area would be part funded by the permit income, say £50 per vehicle per annum. Additional funding could be gained via fines.

To paint and maintain spaces would be problematic if anglers want to fish by their cars and move about to obtain better access points

Photo 1 Lower Walk

Photo 2 Norbreck

Photo 3 Little Bispham

Shirley Young, Blackpool Services

Blackpool Council, Lee House, Layton Depot, Plymouth Road, FY3 7HW

T: 01253 476800, E: