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Coastal retreat and/or advance adjacent to defences in England and Wales

Coastal retreat and/or advance adjacent to defences in England and Wales
Coastal retreat and/or advance adjacent to defences in England and Wales
Retreat and advance of shoreline position occurs naturally, and also as a result of defences which are constructed to prevent erosion and flooding. Retreat more commonly manifests itself down-drift of defences due to sediment deficit causing the coast to become ‘set-back’. Advance normally develops due to sediment accumulation up-drift of a barrier inhibiting longshore drift, resulting in the coast becoming ‘set-forward’.

Many examples of set-backs and set-forwards are recorded, but their location, number and cause is not known on a national scale. Using the Futurecoast aerial photographs, approximately 200 localities were identified as set-back or set-forward in England and Wales, with half situated in the Eastern and South East regions of England. Half of the total set-backs or set-forwards were on cliffed coasts, and half on low-lying coasts.

Without local knowledge it is difficult to distinguish between set-backs and set-forwards. Set-backs often indicate higher retreat rates, thus threatening cliff-top infrastructure which requires defence upgrade and extensions, as well as raising maintenance costs. Monitoring set-backs is important for shoreline management, because as retreat continues, set-backs evolve and artificial headlands form and grow. This is reinforced by the shift from hard defence policies towards softer engineering approaches, managed realignment and limited intervention.
1400-0350
659-670
Brown, S.
dd3c5852-78cc-435a-9846-4f3f540f2840
Barton, M.E.
eea85a67-8def-49a1-a48c-f332310388d9
Nicholls, R.J.
4ce1e355-cc5d-4702-8124-820932c57076
Brown, S.
dd3c5852-78cc-435a-9846-4f3f540f2840
Barton, M.E.
eea85a67-8def-49a1-a48c-f332310388d9
Nicholls, R.J.
4ce1e355-cc5d-4702-8124-820932c57076

Brown, S., Barton, M.E. and Nicholls, R.J. (2011) Coastal retreat and/or advance adjacent to defences in England and Wales. Journal of Coastal Conservation, 15 (4), 659-670. (doi:10.1007/s11852-011-0159-y).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Retreat and advance of shoreline position occurs naturally, and also as a result of defences which are constructed to prevent erosion and flooding. Retreat more commonly manifests itself down-drift of defences due to sediment deficit causing the coast to become ‘set-back’. Advance normally develops due to sediment accumulation up-drift of a barrier inhibiting longshore drift, resulting in the coast becoming ‘set-forward’.

Many examples of set-backs and set-forwards are recorded, but their location, number and cause is not known on a national scale. Using the Futurecoast aerial photographs, approximately 200 localities were identified as set-back or set-forward in England and Wales, with half situated in the Eastern and South East regions of England. Half of the total set-backs or set-forwards were on cliffed coasts, and half on low-lying coasts.

Without local knowledge it is difficult to distinguish between set-backs and set-forwards. Set-backs often indicate higher retreat rates, thus threatening cliff-top infrastructure which requires defence upgrade and extensions, as well as raising maintenance costs. Monitoring set-backs is important for shoreline management, because as retreat continues, set-backs evolve and artificial headlands form and grow. This is reinforced by the shift from hard defence policies towards softer engineering approaches, managed realignment and limited intervention.

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More information

Published date: 30 June 2011
Organisations: Energy & Climate Change Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 204651
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/204651
ISSN: 1400-0350
PURE UUID: 5156c55e-814b-4822-b8f6-ca0a770bb9fc
ORCID for S. Brown: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1185-1962
ORCID for R.J. Nicholls: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9715-1109

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 01 Dec 2011 11:20
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:31

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