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Rocky time ahead for Victoria Park


Rocky time ahead for Victoria Park

Rocky stopbanks built as flood protection for Thames township will be given much needed attention with work beginning the week after Easter weekend.

In recent years, the rocky protection underneath the picturesque Underfoot Gallery at the edge of the Firth of Thames has become destabilised in places. Some parts of the stopbank now have no further layers of rock separating the soil from the sea.

“Environmentally, now’s the best time,” says Council’s Parks Contract Manager Derek Thompson. “The erosion has reached as far into Thames township’s protective barrier as is acceptable and we want to act while it's still a relatively simple solution.”

Economically too, any delay would damage the walkways as well as the stopbank and make future attempts to rearmour that stretch of coastline much more expensive.

What we will be doing

Beginning the week after Easter weekend and continuing for two-three weeks, subject to weather, we will be:

(1) Carefully covering the artwork on the Underfoot Gallery, placing protection over it so that trucks carrying the rocks can drive over the footpath area.

(2) Stockpiling rock at the end of Albert Street in the little shingle turnaround area where people love to park up and look out at the gorgeous sunsets.

(3) Transporting new rock down the protected footpath to the placement sites.

(4) Temporarily removing existing rock and laying geotextile cloth (to help reduce further erosion) as a base for the reinforced wall.

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(5) Rearmouring the wall using both the new rocks and the rocks we temporarily removed.

Timing

The length of time this will take us to rebuild the stopbank is going to be dependent on the weather but we’re planning to be all finished by the middle of April.

We are aware of the school holidays coming up, but were faced with a choice between doing it in the middle of the Thames Heritage Festival week, over Easter weekend, or after Easter weekend, and of the three options, we chose to do it just after Easter.

Local contractors with the required skill and experience tendered for the job, which will cost around $40,000.

ends

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