Media centre

Wednesday 21 Aug 2019

Residents invited to find out more ahead of new Dawlish sea wall work restarting

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Western

Residents are invited to a drop-in session in Dawlish, Devon, to update them ahead of work restarting on the new sea wall which will help protect the town and the railway from extreme weather and rising sea levels for generations to come.

Network Rail will restart work on 9 September on the new bigger sea wall which will provide greater resilience for the stretch of railway that connects the South West with the rest of the country.

Work had stopped during the peak summer tourism season to minimise the impact on local communities and businesses.

Ahead of work restarting Network Rail is inviting local communities to a drop-in session to find out more about the next phase of the build.

The event will be held on Wednesday 4 September at:

• The Manor House, Old Town Street, Dawlish EX7 9AP from 3pm to 6pm

At the drop-in event expert engineers and representatives from Network Rail will provide an update on the details of the next stage of the build which will now continue through to when it is finished.  

David Lovell, Network Rail’s programme manager for the new Dawlish sea wall, said: “We have worked with world-leading engineers to design and build a new sea wall which will improve the resilience of the main rail artery in and out of Devon and Cornwall.

“As we enter the post-summer phase of work we invite local communities to attend our drop-in session and find out more. The work will be a lot more visual than what it was before the summer as we move from doing the foundations onto the main construction phase.”

Anne-Marie Morris, Member of Parliament for Newton Abbot said: “I would encourage any residents with questions about the work resuming on 9 September in Dawlish to go along to the Network Rail drop-in session on Wednesday 4 September at The Manor House.

“Events such as this one is a great way to ensure on-going communication between the community and Network Rail”. 

Anyone who is unable to attend the drop-in sessions can contact the national helpline on 03457 11 41 41 or can follow @SouthWestRRP on Twitter or Facebook.