By Lisa Ramsden
There are calls this week for immediate action to safeguard the harbours in Annalong and Newcastle. Structures at both locations, namely a breakwater and the northern pier respectively, continue to deteriorate. The latest calls for urgent action at both locations have been made by residents and councillors alike.
Annalong’s breakwater, which helps to protect the mouth of the village’s harbour, and the quay in Newcastle, have suffered further damage in recent days. One local councillor has warned that the tidal damage caused at Newcastle means the structure “is on the slippery slope to becoming as bad as the situation we are now faced with in Annalong.”
Residents have voiced their frustration over delays to work being carried out at both sites, particularly given the precarious state of the Annalong pier. The pier has been repeatedly damaged through stormy seas, with villagers reporting ongoing deterioration for the guts of a decade. The situation in Newcastle only manifested last month, when large blocks of granite were ripped from the face of the northern quay.
A local woman, who contacted the Mourne Observer but asked for her name not to be printed, said the situation at Annalong harbour is “scandalous.” Exasperated by the lengthy delays in work taking place, she said her views echoed the thoughts of countless others who have a genuine interest in the harbour area.
“If damage gets worse every time we have gales, it won’t be too long before a large bit of the pier is lost to the sea, and then what will happen?” she said. “Annalong village never asks for much, nor does it get much.”
She accused the district council of “dragging of heels” and only paying “lip service” to repairing the pier. “Now we are facing a bigger and more expensive issue,” she added. She said the “public outcry from residents in Annalong,” in terms of the harbour, is long-running and well-documented, adding that the pier “continues to crumble away.”
The resident said she could not understand why the issue was not being treated as a priority. She added that should the breakwater collapse even further, it will stop performing the role it was constructed for – to protect the harbour and neighbouring land from turbulent seas.
Newcastle residents have called for work at their local harbour, which is protected, to progress with urgency. The northern quay lost further large chunks of granite last week, just days after Storm Chandra caused the initial damage. A local man said he feared for the structure’s future.
Posting on the Newcastle Harbour Heritage Association’s public group, the local boat owner and harbour user wrote: “What is going on with our council?” Describing the situation as “urgent,” he said he feared “now the collapse of the harbour has started.”
In the current issue read more reaction to the damage caused to the piers in the area.
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