A PAINSTAKING operation to locate and remove unexploded bombs will get underway before work begins on a huge project to protect Shoebury from flooding.
The Ministry of Defence is set to embark on Phase Three of a project to improve sea defences in Shoebury and Foulness Island.
Much of the work will be carried out on the New Ranges, off Wakering Road, Shoebury, where weapons testing over decades has left unexploded ordnance buried in the sand.
The area is not open to the public, but land beyond the ranges could potentially flood if the repairs are not carried out.
The MoD has commissioned specialists Brimstone and VolkerStevin to carry out surveys and clear the ordnance for the safety of construction workers, who will carry out piling down to four metres into the ground.
Qinetiq, which manages the ranges, said: “We, with our contractors, have undertaken a detailed review and risk managed all planned works with respect to unexploded ordnance and have agreed with the specialist contractors a mitigation strategy and methodology that will identify all the key risks.
“This will allow and enable suitable response procedures to reduce the risk to construction workers, excavating plant used or sea defence structures from any encounter with unexploded ordnance throughout the works.”
Peter Lovett, vice-chairman of Shoebury Residents Association, welcomed the move.
He said: “Anything they do in that area to protect it is so important to Shoebury because that’s where it all came from in the 1953 floods. It definitely needs improving to protect us all.
“We are all for it, though we don’t know much because it’s typical secret service.”
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The site extends from Shoebury, up the tidal River Roach to the bridge onto Foulness Island, extending across the whole of the island. The work includes raising lengths of sea defence, improving flood bank stability and access track improvement to allow better maintenance to flood defences and sluices.
A planning application, approved by Southend Council, said doing nothing was rejected because it would lead to the “overtopping and eventual failure of the flood defences with an uncontrolled and unacceptable flood risk, which would present a serious risk to human safety in addition to significant adverse environmental impacts”.
“It would also negatively impact on MoD operations of national importance with regard to defence and national security.”
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