West Kirby Marine Lake to reopen after £750k improvements

Jul 27 2009 by Carrie Catterall, Liverpool Daily Post

west kirby marine lake 320

ONE of Wirral’s most popular tourist destinations will officially re-open this weekend.

West Kirby Marine Lake, a popular sailing, windsurfing and recreational water park, has been closed for repairs since March.

Its £750,000 refurbishment, approved by Wirral Council officials last year, followed an engineers’ report which said the lake’s outer wall, an attraction for thousands of walkers, was crumbling, and that it was only a matter of time before it became too dangerous to allow visitors to continue walking along it.

There had been concerns that rising sea-levels, increasing stormy weather and the increasing age of the outer wall could accelerate the rate of deterioration.

The repair work, mostly funded by the Environment Agency, involved raising the level of the lake by 100 millimetres, improving and resurfacing the lakeside visitor walkway, combating embankment erosion, installing new penstock valves from the Dee estuary and increasing the rock armour along the foreshore.

Jones Bros Civil Engineering, from Ruthin, completed the repairs after the original contractor pulled out.

Jones Bros contracts manager Hefin Lloyd-Davies said: “We were delighted to be able to step in quickly and quietly and get the work completed for Wirral Borough Council with minimal disruption.”

The popular walk along the outer wall of the lake has become a feature of the promenade in west Wirral since it was built more than a century ago.

A CELEBRATION to mark the re-opening of the Marine Lake will take place from 11am- 4pm on Saturday, August 1.

The ribbon cutting will be followed by a parade of sail and activities including tidal classes, windsurfing, kayaking and sailing.