East Lindsey agrees £750k flooding compensation in colonnade build

East Lindsey District Council could be asked to fork out up to £750,000 over the next 50 years to improve flood defences around the Sutton on Sea Colonnade.

The authority’s executive next week will agree with the Environment Agency (EA) to hand over the cash if the organisation can prove ELDC’s colonnade rebuild resulted in increased costs to repair nearby sea defences.

Officers will tell leading members, however, that it is “unlikely (outside of emergency events) that the agreement will be called upon for at least five years” while the EA finishes off its latest strategies for the nearby coastline.

ELDC was recently forced to make major changes to its plans for the Sutton on Sea Colonnade after the EA objected to the original proposals.

The latest developments include a new 3m-wide bridge link connecting the promenade to the new buildings while maintaining access to the seafront. Sixteen day-let beach huts will remain, as originally planned, on the promenade.

A report before the executive next Wednesday, said the agreement “must be formally resolved before any planning consent for the approved technical and construction works can be granted”.

“Failure to do so would render the current scheme unviable to proceed with and not enable delivery works to progress beyond their current status,” it said.

“This would also represent a failure to draw down the allocated Towns Deal funding or address the opportunity to provide new investment into Sutton on Sea promenade and surrounding areas, following demolition of the previously decayed Colonnade structure.”

The Sutton on Sea Colonnade project has an estimated capital build cost of £6.2million, with £4.2million confirmed through the Towns Fund. The build programme remains on schedule for completion by Easter 2024 as outlined in the full business case, which was formally approved by the government in August 2022.

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