The release of major funding has been agreed to tackle the historic pollution at the coast in Lynemouth.  
 
Last year the council agreed to kick-start the clean-up work on the decades old waste tip in the area and released an initial £500,000 so essential pre-construction activities could be progressed.  

Now Cabinet has approved the release of £4.5m funding for the clean-up within the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan for 2021/22, with an additional £2.5m being sought from external sources to enable affected land which doesn’t belong to the council to be included in the clean-up scheme. 
 

Subject to receiving an Environmental Waste Permit, it is hoped work will begin in the autumn to excavate over 280,000 tonnes of cliff material from which wastes will be extracted and sensitively disposed of, before placing back the remainder of the material. 
 

The site has already been prepared ahead of the main works, with the top layer of ground being removed to stop migrating birds nesting at the site over the spring, as this would result in the works having to be delayed. 

 
Councillor John Riddle, Cabinet Member for Local Services, said: “We remain determined to do all we can to clean up this stretch of coast.  

“While legally we don’t have to carry out this work, in light of our climate change commitments and our concern for plastics and other waste materials from littering the beach and washing into the marine environment we’re voluntarily taking this desperately needed action to tackle the historic pollution issues at this site once and for all. 
 

“We have developed a scheme that covers all of the affected land and are seeking external funding to cover the clean-up works in those areas which are outside our ownership. We are doing everything we can to tackle this longstanding problem and will start the clean-up works shortly to avoid the winter weather.”  
 
Since the problem was identified a number of temporary measures have been introduced in the area. These include the temporary diversion of the England Coastal Path and continued pollution clearance.   
 
The council has also been doing additional clean-up visits on the beach to remove any waste materials that are washing out from the site.  
 

Local Ward Councillors Cllr Scott Dickinson and Liz Dunn said: “We are pleased to see the funding that we all worked hard to secure being released now.  
 

“It is vital that after the initial work and testing that we continue at pace to resolve what is a historic but problematic environmental disaster. Releasing this part of the funds shows that what we said will happen, and all the hard work will pay off and prevent this environmental issue from continuing to pollute our coastline.”