More than three quarters of a million pounds will be spent on more sea defences to protect homes in Deal, Walmer and Kingsdown for the future.

The £831,000 project announced this week will begin in late August or early September and includes a new rock groyne at Sandown Castle and three rock groynes along Wellington Parade in Walmer.

The scheme is part of the five year Oldstairs Bay to Sandwich Bay Estate Beach Management Works, for which Dover District Council secured £1.5 million of funding from the Environment Agency.

Special permission has been granted by Historic England for the rock groyne at Sandown Castle.

The structure has been designed to be sympathetic to the castle remains and will not be visible from the road. Archaeologists will also monitor the site during works.

Once the groyne is constructed, a large beach recycling exercise will take place, bringing shingle from north of Sandown Castle back to the Deal frontage. The works are expected to last approximately six weeks.

But efforts towards Kingsdown will take double the time and are likely to be completed by Christmas.

The rock groynes at Wellington Parade have been designed to offer a long term solution for the area - were shingle is often rapidly washed away leaving steep drops.

Again, once constructed, diggers will undertake a large recycling operation to bring shingle back from around Walmer Castle to Kingsdown and Wellington Parade.

Cllr Oliver Richardson, DDC cabinet member for environment said: “We are very pleased to confirm that work is set to start on this major project to boost sea defences and protect homes.

"We are working to minimise disruption, but there will inevitably be some noise and movement of heavy plant during the works, and we thank everyone in advance for their cooperation and understanding.”

The contract for the works has been awarded to Breheny Civil Engineering.

The project will be overseen by local authority engineers working in partnership under the East Kent Engineering Partnership.

During this time, it is advised that dogs and children are well supervised, that all machinery is given a wide berth and social distancing is observed at all times.

Read more: All the latest news from Deal