A lengthy closure to a popular coastal walk is underway as £400k repairs to key sea defences begin.

Works on the promenade between Broadstairs and Dumpton Gap, near Ramsgate, is expected to last two months.

Waves, tides, and inclement weather, such as freezing and thawing, has eroded the 60-year-old sea wall causing concrete blocks, known as coping stones, to erode.

The Environment Agency previously provided funding for the project through a £406,000 grant to cover the repairs.

Announced at a Thanet District Council cabinet meeting last year, the project forms part of a wider scheme addressing coping stones at Viking Bay and the harbour in Broadstairs.

The stones are used to cap and reinforce sea walls.

Parts of the jetty and sea walls will be repaired or replaced, and work to slipways along the pier in Broadstairs, which is said to be in “poor condition”, will be included.

Flood gates would also be fitted near the Tartar Frigate pub to be used during storms.

The additional works are set to cost £880,000, bringing the total cost to more than £1.2 million.

It is hoped the flood defences will provide a one-in-200-year standard—meaning the area should only severely flood once every two centuries.

Parts of three other Kent beaches have also seen closures begin last week as a flood defence scheme costing almost half a million pounds got underway.

Repairs to sea defences in Deal, Walmer and Kingsdown are set to take four weeks as contractors work their way along a nearly four-mile stretch of the Kent coastline.

Previously, in 2020, a community was left in shock on the Isle of Sheppey when the cliff collapsed, causing the loss of a home and damage to others.

The land gave way under Emma Tullett’s house, leaving the property teetering on the edge of the clifftop.

A spokesperson for TDC said: "Work has started to repair the seawall between Viking Bay and Dumpton Gap.

“The seawall protects public and residential assets on the chalk cliffs immediately inland of the coastal defences.

“This work is part of the Flood and Coast Erosion Risk management programme, funded by a grant of £406,000 from the Environment Agency.

"The lower promenade will be closed to the public at certain times, and signs will be placed to notify people; pedestrian access will be maintained when possible.

“The work is expected to be completed by Monday 22 July 2024."