New lifeguard towers for North Beach before the summer season

Six new lifeguard towers will be built along North Beach before the summer, doubling the number of stretches watched by trained lifeguards.

The coastguard said most rescues last year happened on unwatched sections of the beach near the dunes. The towers will be staffed from nine in the morning until seven in the evening.

The deputy mayor said the plan had been shaped by hundreds of comments from residents. "This is a better project because people told us what they needed," she said.

Local schools will be invited to follow the work, and a small exhibition about the plans will open in the central library next month.