The first phase of repairs to a popular coastal path boardwalk which was damaged by fire last year look set to go ahead in the coming months. The works will see repairs to the popular boardwalk along Porthcawl's Rest Bay area after it was said to have been "deliberately destroyed" by vandals in November of 2024. The announcement came at a Bridgend County Council meeting where leader Cllr John Spanswick said the authority had sourced funding from Natural Resources Wales in order to begin the first stages of the work. This will include the permanent replacement of a roughly 60m section of the plastic boardwalk, which was closed off and removed entirely following the fire damage that was suspected to have been caused by fireworks. Speaking at the meeting Cllr Spanswick said: "Members will be pleased to know that money has been successfully secured from Natural Resources Wales to support the first phase of this project. We are now in the final stages of preparing design work and pre-tender documents and have submitted a second funding application to Natural Resources Wales. "If this is successful we hope to be in a position where we can confirm a date for undertaking the repairs very soon. This work will all need to be carefully scheduled in order to avoid peak periods and forthcoming events such as the Women's Open golf championship." For the latest Bridgend news sign up to our newsletter here.