Surf reef Fails

A study undertaken for Bournemouth council shows that prior to the reef there were 77 good surfing days, although surfing took place on 153 days, with a total of 5,000 surf visits to Boscombe per year. The intention was that the reef would double the number of good surfing days and it was hoped this would generate 10,000 visits. The original estimate for designing and building the reef was £1.4 million. The eventual cost was £3 million for the reef and a total of £11 million for the redevelopment of the seafront area and the refurbishment of the pier. This was funded by the sale of a car park on which Barratt Developments constructed the Honeycombe Chine Flats complex and the sale of Beach Pods which formed part of the Overstrand building.