A Montrose businessman has attacked Angus Council over the time it is taking to re-open the beach promenade.
A large section of the seafront in Traill Drive has been sealed off since part of the seawall collapsed more than three weeks ago.
Council workers back-filled the hole with concrete to make it safe until a more thorough examination could be carried out.
However, weeks have passed since that initial flurry of activity and, with the summer approaching, one businessman has criticised Angus Council for taking too long and leaving visitors staring at an “eyesore.”
Beach Cafe owner Henry Pinder has argued there is no need for such a large area to be cordoned off and that safety fencing obscuring the sea view will put visitors off.
He has urged the council to speed up the work before the beach’s reputation takes a battering. He believes that, even if the work cannot be done quickly, the safety fencing could be scaled back to a much smaller area.
Mr Pinder said, “Nobody seems to be doing anything. There doesn’t seem to be any movement, either to repair the seawall, or make the area look better. One of the smaller fences has been blown over and the whole thing looks just like a building site.
“The council just seem to be waiting. Every now and then you see a van go past, it stops and then moves on again but nothing else is happening. How long is it going to take? It has been three weeks already, and we need to get the seafront looking respectable again.”
Angus Council has insisted specialist equipment will be needed to examine the seawall for ‘unseen’ damage before the promenade will be fully re-opened. They did not give a time-scale for the completion of the work.
A spokesman said, “We are currently obtaining quotes for a specialist survey to establish the ground conditions in the promenade area. Safety barriers remain in place, (in the) meantime.”