THIS year marks the ten-year anniversary of the Boscombe surf reef, one of the biggest and most expensive public project failures on the South Coast.

It was supposed to be the ‘wow factor’ project which would bring new life and money to one of Bournemouth’s most deprived areas and put the town on the surfing map.

Instead the reef, made of 55 giant sandbags and costing hundreds of thousands of pounds, only opened in 2009 after lengthy delays. It promised large waves that would bring surfers from across Britain but was barely used.

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It closed two years later after one of the bags became damaged and the company behind it, which promised so much, ceased trading, owing £15,000 to the former Bournemouth Borough Council.

However, considering that the reef was part of a larger regeneration project which attracted businesses to the area, did it really fail? Or did it actually help Boscombe?

The reef, built by New Zealand-based ASR Ltd, was signed off by the Liberal Democrat council that came into power in 2003.

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Launch of the surf reef in 2009

Former Labour councillor Ben Grower said: “Under the Lib Dem administration, they tried to make their mark.

“Halfway through working on this job, ASR Ltd got another contract for a project in India. They packed up and left and never came back to finish it,” he claimed.

“It was never actually completed; it was a massive mistake. You might as well have taken three million pounds and thrown it straight into the sea.”

The Tories came back into power in 2007 and oversaw the project’s completion.

After it was spotted some of the 55 sandbags that make up the reef needed repairing, ASR Ltd went into liquidation in 2012 and the company’s director returned to California where it is understood he still resides.Bournemouth Echo:

Phil Stanley-Watts, a former Liberal Democrat councillor at that time, said: “I was disgusted to hear that some of the members of the then council went down to New Zealand to see the artificial surf reef they have out there. It must have come out of the taxpayer’s money.

“When you are taking on a build of this size and money, you need to have conversations with experts in surfing and conservation and receive real professional advice and I don’t feel this took place.

“There should have been more contact with experts and local advice taken from surfers in the area. I said at the time that there should have been more public consultation, it just seemed like the project was rushed.

He said that talk about the reef ‘took to the national stage and attracted business to the area’.

“Although the reef was sectioned off with marker buoys two years after it was installed, some people think it has helped with regeneration.”

Although it soon became apparent after it was completed that the reef didn’t work properly, the regeneration project it was part of has been deemed successful in attracting businesses and people to the area.

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Chris Wakefield, a Conservative councillor for 12 years, said: “From my perspective, the contracts were signed at the eleventh hour.

“There have been positives from it as it was part of a project encompassing three elements: the car park near the sea front was sold off and there were flats built on that site. Some of the money made from selling off the car park was then used on the building of the flats of the seafront.

“Mark Cribb in particular has done really well with the restaurant that is there and the other restaurants and businesses that have moved there now wouldn’t be there if wasn’t for him,” he said.

Anne Filer, who grew up in the area and started her role as a Conservative councillor in 1999, said: “What the reef has done, although it didn’t work for what it was, has helped attract businesses to the area which has in turn regenerated that area.

“Having got the surf reef in place, we started to use it to attract businesses to the seafront and those businesses are still there today, like Mark Cribb and the Urban Reef.

“At the time, the idea wasn’t completely opposed, I think I voted in favour of it because of the benefits it would have to tourism and it would regenerate the seafront,” she said.

“It is a great shame that the reef didn’t work but, 10 years on, there are plenty of attractions and outdoor activities that have come about that wouldn’t otherwise be here if it wasn’t for the reef.”

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Esteban D’Elia, a surfing instructor at Sorted Surfing Shop on Boscombe beach, said it had helped business.

“It hasn’t delivered on what it set out to but, as a result, it has helped us improve our sale of paddleboards and paddle boarding lessons. When you’re out on the paddleboards, the reef is an attraction and we take people around it.”

Jane Kelly, who become a Conservative councillor in 2012, said: “People have this idea that they were con men, but they weren’t. They were nice men, they were ambitious, forward thinking and radical.

“They wanted to create something that was international and put Boscombe on the map - I think it was money well spent.”

She defended the cost, saying: “People think that the surf reef cost three million pounds, whereas it was the whole project, including the car park and the flats that cost that much. The surf reef itself cost in the region of £150,000.

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“It has definitely brought more visitors. The reef brought businesses to the area and now people have a reason to come down this end of the beach.”

She is unequivocal in her belief that despite everything, the project was ‘absolutely worth it’.

“It was ambitious and forward thinking. The reef itself doesn’t work but 90 per cent of the project was a success,” she said.

“It has helped regenerate the area and it is definitely more vibrant now.”