Our Projects - Soapy Cove, The Lizard unusable path and steps

Erosion caused by the storms in recent years had removed the Path surface and left the steps unusable in several areas. The Path needed to be realigned and new steps and drainage to be installed. Cornwall Council commissioned this work to repair the Path in this area of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserve, using the South West Coast Path Association’s Coastal Communities Funding. Natural England had to give permission for the work, due to the status of the area.

As this site is very sensitive, there was a lot of care taken to incorporate the stone work into the natural surroundings and what has been achieved is a subtle process of keeping walkers on one line of path instead of several options that was leading to a scarring of the landscape. Stone drainage gullies were also incorporated to stop water erosion down the slope. The above has been very successful and Natural England are delighted with the outcome as walkers are now following one route up – this will give the surrounding landscape the chance to recover and re-establish the natural vegetative growth so important for this area.

Most of the materials for the project were sourced from the local disused quarry, but the nature of the work, and the sensitive environment meant that this project was very labour intensive – with considerable amounts of manual handling and little use of machinery. Care had to be taken not to disturb or use rocks with moss or lichen cover to keep within the Natural England conditions.

Contractor: CORMAC Ltd