General Discussion
Does anyone know who is responsible, if anyone, for the up keep of the sea wall that protects the outflow of the Dawlish Brook? It has been left to fall apart the last few months.
I agree purrrrrfect, the whole of the sea front at that point is a disgrace and nothing is being done to tidy it up. What are the current Town Councillors doing? Do none of them walk round town and notice all the things that need attending to? Are they not badgering TDC to clean up and sort out? If they are then they need to let us know, if not then they need to Pull their collective fingers out and get on with the work! The sea front is looking shabby and uncared for and needs some serious TLC.
The whole town is dirty in Brunswick Place there are piles of dog ends in the gutters discarded paper bags and scratch cards that have been torn up and just thrown on the floor. There is the usual dog poo all over the place and gum all over the foot paths, and it will get worse when the visitors arrive as they don't seem to know what a bin is, it could be they don't have these modern conveniences in other parts of the country.
I have also noticed when it rains all the drains in the Strand are blocked i often wonder if anybody knows we are here i wouldnt be suprised if the map of the area at TDC hasn't got Dawlish on it because they dont seem to know that there is a town called Dawlish on there patch.
What you are saying is so true. When you go under the viaduct make a left all the concrete has been washed away by the heavy sea's. I do understand we can't halt nature but there is nothing done to rectify the situation in fact it's totally dangerous. The sewage pipes that are now exposed just sit there. The local authorities just don't seem to care, they do as little as possible and you are right Leatash Dawlish is not on the map as far as maintainence is concerned all efforts are put into Teignmouth. Yes there is dog poo all over the place nobody cares it's that simple.
The sewage pipe is no longer in use and hasn't been for years but thats not the point we have a lack of maintainance that wall may do a vital job in protecting the sea wall and station i dont know that as i am not a expert but i would imagine it could belong to Network Rail but it certainly needs looking at.
Yes, Leatash, no doubt these sewage pipes have been hidden over the years under layers of sand and so with the power of the sea has eroded the sand and exposed these ugly sewage pipes. This of course will be a nice place to sit when tourist come here in the summer months. Whomever is reponsible Network rail or TDC something needs to be done, and soon. If these pipes were shut down why oh why weren't they removed in the first place. All this reflects badly on Dawlish.
Nothing will change its like flogging a dead horse i have had the stick in my hand for 32 years and have achieved nothing so i just sit back and smile it will never change and it will get worse my advise put the stick down it's not worth the effort. So what would you say the cost of removing the pipes would be, well they would do a study to find out if removing them would have any effect on the beach then there would have to be this study and that study and a consultation and then after all that they wouldn,t have the money. The pipes i presume belong to South West Water so if i am correct that will be a non starter because that is flogging a dead horse. They of course took all the sewage from Dawlish out to sea now if you think the beach is a mess now you should have seen it covered in everything that went down that pipe the funny thing is this was all going on when Dawlish was in its heyday packed with visitors and flush with cash. So if raw sewage on the beach never stopped them i dont think the old pipes will yes they dont look fantastic but if you think a £1,000,000 + should be spent removing them then keep up the good fight and if you want my stick you are welcome to it.
The first thing visitor see when they go under the railway bridge is rust coming away from the bridge, next they see the sign that says don't go in the outflow of the river. Then they see the wall around the brook outlet falling apart and the old sewage pipes, concrete and the old metal rebar sticking out of the sand (obviously dependant on sand depth at the time).
We have no airshow this year, an increase in charity shops, a pavement down the high street that just looks filthy (paving slabs I mean) less seating and shelters than a few years ago.
Maybe we need to rename our town Teignmouth 2 and then we might get a bit more of the cash that is being pumped into Teignmouth, yeh..may be not!
Those in control of Dawlish purse strings and development of the town need to step up and take action and I mean positive action to get these issues resolved.
I have had a walk round town this morning and it is very grubby we have a street cleaner and he works very hard but he is only one man, i know he does the best he can but he is fighting a losing battle. The problem is folk not everyone but a large percentage have no pride in there town and it is our town we live here so put your gum in a bin dont drop litter and fag ends and if you see a can or bottle bin it or recyle it, and better still if you see folk littering tell them to pick it up. We need to educate people i know i keep banging on about this but the loss of the Police Traffic Wardens was a huge loss they dealt with littering broken paving and a host of other things that kept things tidy they were always here every day, Dawlish once the top place to visit on the Devon coast is dying by the day and nobody gives a hoot.
And it makes me bl**** mad because i love this town but have now grown to old to fight it's battles so come on folk get on that phone to TDC and DCC and give them some stick.
Just cant put that stick away Leatash lol. I'm with you 100%. I do call various TDC and or DCC about issues. My lastest issue was about a lamp standard that is located just outside the tourist office. When i called i was tranferred from one department to another, anyway i finally tracked down the right department. Did you know there are two departments in charge of street lighting. If the lamp standard is of a grey colour it's DCC if it's a green lamp standard it's TDC. The one outside the tourist office is green, as this light has been out for years i offered to pay for the light bulb which didn't go down to well, to bad. Anyway they have now got it lit and it's now on 24/7 as it needs a new whatever. So Leatash don't put that stick away just yet, I will be calling SW water regarding the sewage pipes.
Regards
John
Point taken i will make a few phone calls Tuesday they probably think i am dead as i havent been banging my stick on there doors for about 6 months i will start by trying to get the gum removed from the footpaths thats my mission for the next month.
hey @Brooklyn Bridge - there is a web page to report lamps (yes i am that sad) and it does work.
https://new.devon.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/report-a-problem/
@leatash - i do think a good percentage of people care about this town. i don't think there the manpower is there as it was to fix stuff that is reported.
You are right flo but it takes passion to get things done and in Dawlish it is like banging your head against a wall its hard work my passion after 32+ years has dwindled a bit, but Brooklyn Bridge reminded me everything i have i owe to this town it is a great place with great people and i have renewed passion so watch out TDC AND DCC I AM ON THE CASE. What i have done in the past is to get 20 or 30 people to phone the powers that be on the same day about the same problem then the next day and so on it works very well any body fancy doing that.
Yes, Leatash let me know who and what topic and we can blast them with phone calls and phone number if you have one. I would be only to pleased to throw my American attitude at them lol.
Brooklyn it may be keep everything crossed that the footpaths get cleaned i should know in the next few days.
Dawlish Water outflow & sea wall works update from Network Rail as below (my queries to NR in italics):
I write in response to your queries concerning Dawlish works as I have received the following update from the Project Team:
The [outflow] structure was breached at the start of the year following a succession of weather patterns which scoured abnormal quantities of sand from the beach, thus exposing the beach bedrock and the wall's foundations. Despite your contractor, Dyer & Butler, performing some stopgap maintenance on 7th February (when the attached photos were taken) the wall has rapidly continued to collapse.
This is the main watercourse channel running through Dawlish and out to sea. This changes on a daily basis but 95% of the time it runs directly into the corner of the breakwater that has collapsed (this is why it has collapsed) see attached photo. For us to be able to carry out our works the channel will have to be excavated and some of the granite stones at the outfall end will need to be removed. Our Structures Engineer is speaking with the council to confirm if this is possible and who will be paying. We are monitoring it on a daily basis in case the water levels change.
The [other] structure affected is the sea wall itself where it curves around the eastern end of the station. This wall appears to have been similarly founded on an unstable sandy base and has been scoured to a considerable depth (estimated between 0.75m and 1.00m) and width (some 3m to 4m). Hundreds of tons of granite wall are therefore being supported only by the bridging effect of the adjacent masonry. Having brought the matter to the attention of your contractor, I note that sandbags have now been inserted - however I would expect this measure has only been done to prevent further short-term erosion rather that as a longer-term fix.
The voids have been temporarily filled with concrete sand bags and a design is in progress. Sand levels have risen by approx. 3 foot so the risk of further damage is minimal. Photo attached. This is being monitored daily.
I note also that repairs to the ramp (leading down from the sea wall under the viaduct to the beach) which had also been eroded during this period is now receiving attention. Which brings me to my question: When and over what time-frame are the remaining urgent works going to be tackled?
This was completed on Friday
We are currently awaiting a start date for the permanent repairs to the sea wall.
I hope you find the above information useful.