A resident has blasted an authority for giving the go ahead on sea defence works in Deal during the peak season.

Dover District Council announced last month that its £800k beach maintenance works would commence at the end of August or beginning of September.

The works which include creating new rock groynes and moving shingle will protect homes in Deal, Walmer and Kingsdown for the future.

But the first digger arrived by the shore today, with workers creating noise by installing a metal fencing around it.

A nearby resident, who has asked not to be named, has questioned the council's decision to begin work at such a time, considering the high season and the country's current heat wave.

In his five years of living on the seafront, he claims he has never seen the beach "so packed" with families and has accused the authority of turning the attraction into a building site.

He said: "It's outrageous that they've started today.

"It's a prime time and the busiest I've seen the beach and now they've turned it into a building site.

"It's extraordinary. The people and businesses of Deal are so reliant on holiday makers and they've risked destroying it. Would you come to Deal as a holiday maker if you knew the beach was going to be a building site?

"I think they should have waited until at least after the Bank Holiday weekend when the holiday season has finished and the schools are back."

Dover District Council has been approached for a comment.

The £831,000 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.

It includes a new rock groyne at Sandown Castle and three rock groynes along Wellington Parade in Walmer.

There will also be beach recycling, transporting shingle from north of Sandown Castle back to the Deal frontage - lasting six weeks.

Attention will also be given to Kingsdown with more shingle recycling from around Walmer Castle to Kingsdown and Wellington Parade. This work should be complete by Christmas.

Read more: All the latest news from Deal