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Impacts of Coastal Recession:

Why do Britain’s Coastlines recede faster than other?

1) Fetch – Coasts that face a major ocean (e.g. the SW coast of England), have a very long fetch and the winds are strong and persistent. Therefore, the destructive waves have high energy that erodes the cliffs faster than destructive waves that have low energy and a small fetch.

2) Rock type (geology) – The geology of the South West of England is mainly granite, this geology is very resistant and reduces the rate of erosion, however, less resistant rock types such as clay erodes much faster as they are soft.

3) Coastal management – Coastal management influence cliff recession because if there is protection, such as curved sea walls, the geology if it be weak then has less chances of being eroded faster. Another example is granite boulders, they are positioned in front of weak cliffs, and they then absorb the energy and protect the cliff from retreating.

 

North Norfolk, (Happisburgh) Case Study:

Happisburgh, (North Norfolk), is on the East coast of England and is exposed to the North Sea. It is located North East of London and Norwich. Happisburgh has a ‘managed retreat’ policy. This means that they have no coastal defenses. In 1995 the council stopped repairing the coastal defenses, which consequently led to an escalation of cliff recession and erosion, which has impacted 850 residents. The result: 1000 homes, 1400 caravan and chalet parks and 7 golf courses being lost in the next century. An example of a golf course already going through the process is Sheringham golf course, its 5th and 6th hole is nearing the cliff, this has an impact on the business because if there is a loss of holes, the quality of the golf course is not as good; if the quality isn’t as good, customers will no longer go there or purchase their’ services which then has a financial and economic impact.

In Happisburgh:

• Properties on the cliff front can no longer get insurance because they are potentially close to destruction because of the rapid rates of cliff recession, therefore, they are potentially due to be demolished. This is because if the property owners do not take the house down, they are at risk of being charged and taken to court for environmental damage.

• The prices of house have depreciated from £80,000 to £1. They have no value because the house is a “temporary” configuration because the house is close to being taken out via cliff retreats.

• 18 listed buildings are approaching the end of the cliff, including a Grade 1 listed church that is 60m from the sea.

• Some roads are no longer passable as they are dangerous to go past due to the high-energy destructive waves. Also, 3.5km of roads are at risk of erosion.

• 25 properties and the village lifeboat station have been washed away because of erosional processes

• 6 hotels and homes are close to being destroyed as well as 3 community halls

• Some roads and utility networks (e.g. power cables) have had to be re-routed to prevent potential cliff collapsing and damaging

Impacts of coastal recession in Happisburgh:

One impact of coastal recession in Happisburgh is that value of sites depreciates, for example, the fifth and sixth hole at Sheringham Golf Course is nearing the cliff edge. This is a downside because if the golf course cannot provide good quality and provide customer needs, the customers would then leave their service and purchase a different service for better quality. This could have a consequential issue of the business shutting down because people are not playing at their golf course.

A second impact of coastal retreat in Happisburgh is that insurance quotes increase substantially. For instance, as the cliff retreats more and more because of erosion, insurance prices increase immensely and value of properties drop exceedingly from £80,000 to £1. This has an impact on the human environment because if people cannot afford insurance; firstly, it would be illegal, also, the existence of homes are at risk of being destroyed.

Another impact of coastal recession in Happisburgh is that GP’s are more packed with people that are having erosion-related problems. A local GP in Happisburgh stated that they’re surgery is full of people and not just people from beach road, all reporting erosion-related stress and depression. This is not good for individual health as well as GP’s, this is because the GP’s services are limited therefore, and emergencies take longer to assist and people then have to wait longer. Also, the deterioration of individual health can lead to illnesses.

 

Barton on Sea Case Study:

Timeline of past events:

• Café was demolished in 1975.

• During the 1970’s, rock groynes and rip-raps were placed at the bottom of the cliff as apart of the defense works at Barton, which had a cost of £1 million.

• Manor Lodge was demolished in 1975 to prevent it being naturally destroyed by a destructive wave; - (was only 20m away from the cliff edge). It had a value of £40,000.

• A landslide destroyed Fisherman’s Walk in 1975. Barton Court is the next property that will fall.

• After the previous major landslide, Cliff House Hotel’s foot area was protected by rip-raps.

• In 2005, 300m of cliff path were closed due to cliff slipping.

• There was a recreation area and car park between houses and the cliff to allow for future cliff recession.

• Coastline at Barton on Sea has been protected because of the settlement and population. Homes are now further from cliffs therefore, showing success in the idea.