IN TWO months time plans will be unveiled for what a £7million seafront scheme across Weston seafront will look like

IN TWO months time plans will be unveiled for what a £7million seafront scheme across Weston seafront will look like.Residents are now being urged to tell engineering firm Royal Haskoning how they want the scheme between Royal Sands and Marine Lake to appear.The firm and contractors Birse kicked off their consultation with a workshop with residents in the Winter Gardens this week.Royal Haskoning wants to raise the height of the current sea wall along the beach and build a second wall behind it to collect water which may splash over the first wall.Residents are now being asked where they think the second wall should go and what it should look like.Hotel owners have expressed concerns that trade could suffer if the wall looks too big and obtrusive but many residents have said they just want their homes to be safe from flooding.People at the workshop said they wanted features like concessions, walkways and toilets built into the walls.Dawn Crane, of Park Place, Weston, said: "If we are not careful people will not want to sit outside by the seafront any more because it is going to look like an open prison."Jon Harrap, president of Weston Hoteliers Association, said: "We must make it as aesthetically pleasing as we can because it will be so important to the town."Donald Pearce, of Park Place, Weston, said: "It really concerns people like us living near the sea because we don't want a wall right by our homes but we still want to be safe."Martin Woolls, operator of the Bristol Queen pleasure boat, said: "I think we may have lost a major opportunity to get funding for a bigger offshore scheme. I think our forefathers would be disgusted with what we are putting in.