Closed alleyway could cost more than £100k to fix

An alleyway which has been shut for over a year due to health and safety concerns could cost more than £100,000 to reopen, it has emerged.

Thanet District Council (TDC) announced last July that the Coleman's Stairs alleyway in Birchington, Kent, would be temporarily closed.

Just over 12 months later and councillor George Kup has said that despite initial hope that it could be reopened within a few months, no date is in sight because "a safe engineering solution has not yet been funded".

"We are sorry that we have not been able to find a quicker solution or bring better news. We understand the disappointment and inconvenience this has caused," he wrote on Facebook.

A number of options have been considered over the last 12 months, including removing the vegetation at risk of falling, constructing a retaining wall, and installing a specialist geotextile rockfall protection system.

Kup said the council was quoted about £105,000 to design a specialist-engineered geotextile rockfall protection system.

He said the council will install permanent fencing to "prevent access for now", to address issues such as anti-social behaviour.

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