THE £28m coastal defence work to protect Scarborough's 750-year-old harbour and the Marine Drive is to start at the end of the month.

Newcastle company Edmund Nuttall won the contract over 41 other companies from all parts of Europe, said Councillor Godfrey Allanson, Scarborough Borough Council's cabinet member for the environment.

Three-quarters of the cost will be paid for by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The scheme includes the construction of a rock and concrete armoured revetment from the harbour to the Marine Drive.

The council will have to find £7m of the cost.