Cheap and nasty "rock armour"

Image: © Andy Waddington Taken: 1 Nov 2021

Millions have been spent in adding rock armour around Hartlepool's Headland less than a mile to the southeast to defend housing there from North Sea storms and the erosion they cause. The rock used is not entirely in keeping with the local geology (Magnesian Limestone) but at least it looks fairly natural. Here a cheaper and far less aesthetic solution has been adopted with huge amounts of builders' rubble and old reinforcing steel dumped in front of the dune face - no doubt avoiding landfill tax too! Small, and very rounded, pieces of brick litter the beach, suggesting that longevity was not a consideration, and that most of this material will end up adding much to the sand and nothing to the stability of the coast. Meanwhile, it is pretty offensive in its ugliness.

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