Workington MP Sue Hayman will press the Government for prompter action to help communities hit by coastal erosion as the closure of the coast road at Dubmill Point enters its second month.
The Labour MP is concerned about the length of time people living and working along the B5300 are having to endure diversions while local and national government bodies address bureaucracy ahead of work to address erosion and reopen the route.
The road has been closed since February 20 when an inspection showed the width of coastline between the shore and carriageway had to less than three metres.
Cumbria County Council received a Marine Management Organisation licence for planned work in early March and has since had a Natural England permit to work in a Site of Special Scientific Interest. But a Natural England licence to work near protected toads is still needed.
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Mrs Hayman said: “It seems incredibly over complex and when we have got an issue if coastal erosion and roads that are clearly not protected as they should be it really does seem ridiculous that we can’t just crack on and it takes this length of time.
“It doesn’t seem very co-ordinated and I think this is right across the board. We need a much more efficient and effective way of managing these things.
“It’s incredibly important. Constituents who live in that area have been telling us about their very deep concerns for more than three years. We really need to make sure that their homes are protected, their businesses are protected and that there’s a road that’s useable because when that road closes for a period of time it has a serious impact on local businesses as well as children going to school and people going to doctors appointments.”
Mrs Hayman said that, once the licence issues were resolved for the B5300 work, she would speak to DEFRA minister Thérèse Coffey about getting a better system in place to deal with such instances.
Meanwhile, the council has spoken to reassure the public that work will begin as soon as possible.
A spokesman said: “The council recognises that the requirement for multiple licences in order to commence on-site works has been a difficult process to communicate, and that the local community may have expected works to be under way already. The issue of coastal erosion and the subsequent effect on infrastructure such as roads is complex and requires a multi-agency response. The council has been leading this response and officers are working hard to ensure that all statutory legal requirements have been met before beginning the works.
“The materials and plant are on site, and teams are mobilised to commence works as soon as we receive the final licence for the protection of natterjack toads. This is expected to be granted imminently and we will confirm a date for works commencing as soon as possible.”
That work will involve emergency remodelling of the limestone wall at Dubmill Point, which experts say is at risk of collapse, and the installation of rock armour along the coast north of there, where previous stone-filled baskets, or gabions, had failed.
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