COMMUNITY leaders today admitted work on Felixstowe’s sea defences is behind schedule, but contractors are set to leave the site by the end of the month.

Final work on the �10million project was due to be completed by the end of this week with contractors and site cabins also due to be off the site.

But while most of the work is due to be finished by Friday, the clear-up operation is set to continue for the next few weeks.

A spokesman for Suffolk Coastal District Council said it will be September 21 at the latest when all the site cabins and signs are removed from the area where they are currently working, in Undercliff Road East, near Maybush Lane.

The spokesman added: “All the important work has been completed on schedule, Central Felixstowe now has modern defences in place along its whole stretch and the beach is now probably better than ever, with the clear-up and tidying up now underway.”

Work on the defences started last year and saw the installation of 18 rock groynes between Cobbold’s Point and the War Memorial.

It has involved shingle being pumped from the seabed on to the beach and the rocks being used to make up the groynes have been brought over from Europe.

The scheme is designed to protect 1,500 homes, businesses, and open spaces from coastal erosion over the next 100 years.

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