Beach Boardwalk

Ease of access to the Christchurch coastline is one of the many reasons thousands of people visit every year. From Mudeford Quay in the west to Highcliffe Beach in the east, existing footpaths, promenades and tracks provide a safe and relatively level coastal route, however it cannot be classed as a direct route.

To achieve a direct route from Steamer Point wavewall to Highcliffe beach visitors are required to cross the open sandy frontage of Highcliffe Castle beach which restricts wheelchair users, young families with pushchairs and cyclists. They must must divert their route up along the clifftop by traversing Steamer Point Nature Reserve to the Highcliffe Castle grounds before descending via the zigzag footpath to bring them to the western end of Highcliffe Beach.

The proposal is therefore to provide a direct link between Steamer Point wavewall and the western end of Highcliffe Beach by constructing a raised boardwalk across Highcliffe Castle beach; thereby creating a ‘non-stop’ seafront access/cycleway along the 4.5km of Christchurch coastal vista. The boardwalk will be constructed with two ‘branches’ off the main route to facilitate wheelchair user access to the water’s edge.

To get involved and have your say please download the scoping document from our Document Library to the right of this page (or from here) and complete the Quick Poll below.

Please also feel free to ask any questions about this project in the Your Questions section below, we will endeavour to answer them as soon as we can and your input will help shape the future content of this project page.