BLACKPOOL council chiefs have been celebrating the unveiling of the second phase of a £22 million wonder-wall.

The futuristic replacement for the old weather-beaten seawall at South Shore built in the 1920s, is 1 metres higher than the original, offering greater protection thanks to its "Sea Bee" design.

Jointly funded by Blackpool Council, the Ministry for Agriculture Fisheries and Food, Blackpool Challenge Partnership and South Shore Hospitality Group, the £10 million structure, consists of a sloping apron of 14,000 hexagonal blocks, each 2 tonnes designed to absorb wave energy, reducing the likelihood of water being able to gush over the top.

And the 800 metre wall, built in 23 months by contractors Edmund Nuttall Ltd, was officially opened on Tuesday after Blackpool Mayor Bill Burgess unveiled a plaque dating back to the opening of the original wall in 1926, only a year before winds of up to 78mph demolished much of the new promenade.

At the opening, council leader Ivan Taylor said: "I'm really pleased with how the project has all gone according to plan and budget.

"The people of South Shore deserve this new wall, with this being such a problem area for flooding.

"Of course no-one can give a 100 per cent guarantee flooding will not happen in the future, but I am supremely confident that this wall will significantly reduce the number of occurrences and is a very big step forward in the fight against the waves.

"I know the sea is determined to get to Garstang, but we have to make certain that that doesn't happen. The world wouldn't be the same without Blackpool."

The wall is being completed in three stages, eventually running along a 2km stretch of coast from Starr Gate to the Sandcastle.

The contract for the next stretch, at a cost of £9 million, will go up for tender within the next month with building work expected to start in January.

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