Some of the urgent work needed to preserve the integrity of La Coupée has already taken place with more to be carried out this year – while a longer term plan of action is agreed.
Conseiller Mike Locke recently told Express that the rockfall earlier this year sparked a series of work streams.
The wall on the southern side of La Coupée – nearest Little Sark – collapsed in January after the rock beneath it fell away.
Specialist engineers travelled to Sark within days to carry out the immediate remedial work needed to make the crossing safe and to enable access to Little Sark again. Some of those engineers have since been back to look at longer term priorities to ensure the isthmus is safe.
“We’ve had full surveys done by Geomarine,” confirmed Conseiller Locke towards the end of August.
“We’ve had a report from them with plans and prices. They came back over again recently to walk us through all of the areas down at La Coupée, and try and put some priorities on which needs addressing first, which might be able to wait for later years. They’ve since written that up for us.”
That report was due to be discussed by members of the Sark Douzaine, which is part of Chief Pleas responsible for things like the island’s roads, rubbish, waste, recycling, sewage, and other areas.
“There are some bits of work that we are pretty sure we will start this year,” added Conseiller Locke. “Some of the easier bits we have already had done.
“Our road contractor, Kevin Adams has put some better drainage in to stop water going down across La Coupée, and divert it off to the side. We’ve got some other drains out of La Coupée itself, which can be improved, and the two down in the centre can be improved a great deal to stop further damage.
“So there’s an ongoing program of works being planned, starting this year, going into next year, and planning for the future as well. But we know what the issues are now, which is the main thing, so we can just do that work.”