CONTRACTORS are set to begin work on the second phase of a concrete wall designed to prevent Wisbech from flooding for the next 100 years.

The existing wall along the Nene Quay, which dates back to the 1930s, is considered to be too low for predicted future flood levels.

The construction work, launched by Cambridgeshire County Council at a cost of �1.2million, starts on January 23 and is expected to take around 23 weeks to complete.

It will involve driving 15m steel piles into the river bed and building a new length of concrete flood wall, extending from a previous wall completed last year.

Once the new concrete structure has been completed the entire flood wall will be faced with brickwork.

When work began, in 2010, Fenland District Councillor Jonathan Farmer, now Mayor of Wisbech, called the wall a “hideous monstrosity”.

Residents also attacked the unnattractive appearance of the structure, claiming that it looked “more like the Berlin Wall”.

Road closures will be in place during the work, with northbound traffic diverted via the Old Market and southbound traffic re-directed along Churchill Road and the A47.

Traffic marshals will be on hand during the closures to assist with parking and deliveries to nearby properties.