Despite the concerns of the engineer Nicholas Whiteley about the likely hazards of trying to reclaim Horsey Island, the scheme went ahead, with two schemes being put out to tender, one for embankments around Horsey Island and the other for the construction of the new cut and the embankments on Braunton Pill. Calls for subcontractors, 200 navvies and a haulier to move 60,000 yards of stone from Braunton Down and other quarries were made in October 1854. There were some financial difficulties, and vandalism on the Heanton embankment in 1855.