Coast management

Coast management

1. Soft engineering

   • Beach nourishing: sand transported to repair LSD.
     • Strengths: has a natural look.
     • Weaknesses: costly and may erode again.
   • Do nothing: land is no longer worth defending.
     • Strengths: free.
     • Weaknesses: problems could get worse.
   • Red lining or zone management: preventing further building on endangered land.
     • Strengths: saves money long term.
     • Weaknesses: unpopular and politically challenging.

2. Sustainable management.

   • Managed retreat: incentives given through grants/buyouts to encourage re- location and ‘set-back’ schemes.
     • Strengths: saves construction costs.
     • Weaknesses: difficult to argue and persuade politically if residents are involved in the relocation.
   • Coastal resilience: allowing flooding and other phenomenons can have positive ecological outcomes.
     • Strengths: very cost effective and ecologically helpful.
     • Weaknesses: loss of agriculturally valuable land can lead to large scale losses.
   • Shoreline management plans: getting local groups to work together towards a solution.
     • Strengths: solution matches specific needs of the locals.
     • Weaknesses: those who want immediate action can view this as a delaying tactic.

3. Hard engineering

   • Cliff-foot strategies
     • Sea walls: a large wall built to absorb energy from waves.
       • Strenghts: traditional method.
       • Weaknesses: very costly and quite ineffective for built beaches and LSD locations
     • Revetments: a wall that is built to reflect wave energy.
       • Strengths: also traditional but cheaper than sea walls.
       • Weaknesses: costly and ineffective with very strong waves.
     • Gabions: wire cages that hold rocks for coastal defences.
       • Strenghts: even cheaper than revetments.
       • Weaknesses: also costly and only a small scale solution.
     • Groynes: barricades made of wood or rock to prevent LSD.
       • Strengths: quite cheap and can be easily repaired.
       • Weaknesses: require maintenance and can cause more problems down shore.
     • Offshore bars: built offshore to reduce incoming wave strength.
       • Strenghts: can be built out of waste and mimic nature.
       • Weaknesses: ecological impacts may not work that well.
     • Rip-rap: large boulders at the shore to reduce damage to sea walls and shorelines.
       • Strenghts: effective for preventing large scale erosion.
       • Weaknesses: became quite costly and may move with severe weather.
   • Cliff face strategies:
     • Cliff drainage: removes water to prevent landslides.
       • Strenghts: cost effective.
       • Weaknesses: dry cliffs can lead to collapse.
     • Cliff regrading: lowering the angle of cliffs to achieve higher ground stability.
       • Weaknesses: retreat of cliff can affect valuable land.
       • Strenghts: works on some types of rocks where nothing else will.

Images and files in the map