Photo by Carl Jorgensen
Construction is starting on a £19.8 million scheme to protect Torcross in south Devon, after storms in January and February 2026 badly damaged the village’s sea defences. The Environment Agency will place almost 90,000 tonnes of new rock armour along the shoreline to reduce the wave energy reaching the village. It will also reinstate damaged defences at the car park and extend the slipway.
The scheme has secured all the consents and licences it needs from the Marine Management Organisation and the local planning authority, following consultation with stakeholders including Natural England. Kier Infrastructure has been appointed to carry out the works on an accelerated timetable.
Rock by sea and by road
Just under 60,000 tonnes of rock will arrive by barge, with a further 30,000 tonnes of smaller material coming by road. The first barge delivery is expected this week, subject to weather. Shipments are scheduled to run until early December, and road deliveries until the end of January 2027.
The rock armour will be installed between October and April, followed by the slipway extension and sheet piling at the car park in spring 2027. The project is due to finish, and the car park to reopen, in early summer 2027, although the Environment Agency says the dates are indicative and could change with weather and operational factors.
According to Baird Maritime, the rock armour has a design life to 2060 and allows for a possible three-metre fall in average beach levels.
George Arnison, Environment Agency project lead, said: “We’re really pleased to have got to this critical point where we have the green light to start construction. I’d like to acknowledge the huge amount of work that’s gone into getting the project to this stage so quickly, much of which is invisible to the public.”
He thanked the local community “for their patience over the last 7 months.”
Philip Ramsay, operations director at Kier Infrastructure, said: “The collaborative effort has ensured that we can now start construction in October.”
A sensitive setting
Torcross sits at the southern end of the Slapton Line, the shingle barrier between Start Bay and Slapton Ley. The site lies within the Slapton Ley Site of Special Scientific Interest and close to the Skerries Banks and Surrounds Marine Conservation Zone. The storms also washed away a section of the A379 road between Torcross and Slapton. Repairing it is a separate project led by Devon County Council, which is the highways authority.
The £19.8 million comes from the Environment Agency’s existing investment programme budget, provided by government through Defra and ring-fenced for flood and coastal defence. As the Midweek Herald reports, it is separate from funding for the A379, which is Devon County Council’s responsibility. The Environment Agency, Devon County Council and South Hams District Council are working together on reinstating the car park defence, as Water Magazine reports. The Slapton Line Partnership publishes updates on the urgent works.
The scheme is a significant investment in holding the line at a single, exposed frontage. It is also one of the clearest recent examples of how quickly a coastal community’s defences can be overwhelmed. The Environment Agency says the country is bracing for a wetter winter after a wet winter and a historic summer drought.