WIRRAL Council was not able to close the gates of its £20million West Kirby sea wall in time after receiving a flood alert leaving water spilling out onto the road.

The local authority said a high tide tidal surge at noon on Monday (February 12) was higher than initial forecasts and, as a result, "it was too late to close the majority of the flood gates" installed to seal gaps in the flood defence that ordinarily provide access to West Kirby's promenade when there is no risk of flooding.

The sea wall was built between April 2022 and finished in September 2023 with a final budget of £19.7m to protect seafront properties in West Kirby from flooding.

The costs were much higher than initial forecasts which the council said was due to unexpected issues with the promenade itself, problems relocating the RNLI, design costs, and inflation.

The increased costs have been paid for by the Environment Agency and other public bodies with Wirral Council's contribution remaining the same despite the rise.

The wall was controversial during construction but following completion, public perception has reportedly become more positive.

Advisers on the scheme said homes that would have been flooded every ten or 20 years before the wall's existence are now only at risk from a once in a 200-year storm and John Curtin from the Environment Agency previously said that without the wall, "the town would eventually die from flooding too frequently."

When there is high risk of flooding, Wirral Council said it would close the gates along the seawall preventing water from spilling onto South Parade.

However, a video circulated on Facebook showed part of the promenade flooding as waves pour through an open flood gate.

Asked why it had not closed the gates on this occasion, a spokesperson for the local authority said: "The tidal surge at West Kirby at Monday's noon high tide was higher than initially forecast and by the time we received the flood alert, it was too late to close the majority of the flood gates.

"This resulted in some standing water pooling on the road surface along parts of South Parade for a short time.

"While this was unfortunate, it is important to note that, without the new flood defence, South Parade would have had to have been closed completely to traffic as water would have flowed across the whole carriageway."