HECAG Shoreline Management Plan 2

Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) were introduced in 1994 by the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) to provide a large-scale assessment of the potential risk of flooding and coastal erosion along the coast of England and Wales and present policies to guide future decision-making about coastal defence management. The policies in the SMP aim to reflect local and national priorities in order to:

Reduce the threat of flooding and erosion to people and their property; and
Benefit the society, economy and environment as far as possible, in line with the Government’s sustainable development principles.

The original round of SMPs for the HECAG region were completed by 1999. The current SMP2 study represents a review and update of the first round SMP, taking into account any changes that have a occurred since SMP1 and additional data such as the Southern North Sea Sediment Transport Study which has provided a greater understanding of the coastal processes in the region. As with the original SMPs, the SMP2 studies aim to identify sustainable coastal defence options, taking into account the influences and needs of historic, natural and human environments. The SMP2 assesses coastal management issues over time periods of 0 to 20 years, 20 to 50 years and 50 to 100 years.

SMP Preparation

Assessment of long-term coastal processes and status of coastal defences;
Projection of coastline position into the future, taking account of climate change and sea level rise;
Identification of assets and features along the coast, such as villages, amenity beaches, nature reserves and industrial sites, which might be affected by changes in the way the coast is managed;
Determination of objectives for each feature, such as prevention of loss of village due to erosion, or prevention of increased risk of flooding of town due to climate change; and
Testing of different management policies

The coastline will be divided into sections. For each section, the SMP will recommend one of the following four policy options:

No active intervention – no construction of new defences, nor maintenance or upgrade of existing defences;
Hold the existing line of defence – maintenance of existing defences in their current position, with upgrades to counter climate change and sea level rise;
Managed realignment – landward retreat of defences, giving up some land to the sea to form a more sustainable defence in the long-term; and
Advance the existing line of defence – seawards movement of the defences.

Introduction

SMP Preparation