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Shoreline
Management Plans
(SMPs)
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Understanding Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management
Click here
for an explanation of the
background to Shoreline Management Plans and their role
in flood and coastal erosion risk management (you
may need to enable your browser for pop-ups)
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What is a Shoreline Management Plan?
A Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) is a
high level, non-statutory policy document
that provides a large-scale assessment of the risks associated with
natural coastal processes and the consequences of climate
change.
It also provides advice to
operating authorities and private landowners on the management
of their defences.
There
are five Shoreline Management Plans within the SCOPAC region:
Click on a region of the map to link to the relevant SMP website
In
1994 the Coastal Groups and local authorities of England & Wales were
encouraged by Government to adopt the concept of Shoreline Management
Plans (SMPs), with a view to
 providing a more strategic and sustainable
approach to coastal defence. The first SMPs
(SMP1) were completed
by 2000; SMP2 is the first review of those documents.
SMPs
divide the 6,000 mile shoreline of England & Wales into a series of cells and
sub cells defined by coastal type
and processes such as the movement of beach and seabed sediment (sand, shingle, etc) within
and between them.
The
SMP sediment cells of England & Wales are illustrated on the map (right)
- click to enlarge it
Following broad-brush assessments of the
coastal flooding and erosion risks, and taking account of
existing defences, people and the developed, historic and
natural environments, and adjacent coastal areas,
SMPs
identify
one of four shoreline management policies for sections of
coastline (or Policy Units) within a sub-cell:
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Shoreline Management Policy options: |
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Hold the Line
- maintaining the existing line of defence as it is or changing the
standard of protection |
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Managed Realignment
- allowing the shoreline to retreat or
advance in a controlled or managed way, either because that is the
best approach for a particular stretch of coast, or because the
benefits of protection are clearly out of scale with the financial
costs. |
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No Active Intervention - (do nothing) means that no investment
will be made in coastal defences or other operations other than for
safety purposes |
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Advance the Line
- involves the building of new defences on the seaward side of
existing defences |
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The chosen
policy must be technically feasible, environmentally acceptable
and economically sustainable.
A shoreline
management policy is applied per Policy Unit for the short (0-20
years), medium (20-50 years) and long term (50-100 years).
Current coastal management objectives are often widely accepted
and embedded in local planning policy; any future changes in
management and policy need time to be implemented and are often,
therefore, set in the later epochs (20-50 and 50-100 years).
Within these
short, medium and long term timeframes the SMPs will also
include an action plan that prioritises what work is needed to
manage coastal processes into the future. This in turn
will form the basis for deciding and, subject to available
funding, putting in place specific flood and erosion risk
management schemes, coastal erosion monitoring and further
research on how to best adapt to change.
Consequently
the SMPs provide a 'route map' assisting local authorities to
formulate planning strategies and control future development of
the shoreline. In addition, the final plans aid government
to determine future national funding requirements for flood and
coastal erosion risk management.
Coastal groups
such as the Southern Coast Group and SCOPAC provide a forum for
discussion and co-operation and play an important part in the
development of Shoreline Management Plans for their area.
The 22 SMPs produced for the shoreline of England & Wales form an
important element of Defra & National Assembly for Wales' Strategy for Flood and Coastal
Defence.
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Vice-chairperson:
to be elected at the December 2011 meeting
