Walton-on-the-Naze - Coastal erosion

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GCSE Geography Coursework – Walton-on-the-Naze

Coastal erosion presents a problem along the coastlines of Britain.        One of the many areas affected by this is Walton-on-the-Naze, situated in the Southeast coast of England, about sixty-five miles from London. Walton-on-the-Naze is a dated tourist resort with a pier, which has an end shut off due to unsafe structure. There is an area of cliffs further up coast, which are suffering from erosion and cliff collapse. The government has erected a number of different sea defence mechanisms including groynes, rip rap and wooden revetments. These are erected to protect the cliffs from substantial erosion and the eventual disappearance of Walton-on-the-Naze. Sea defences are very expensive to set up but could have dramatic effects on the future of Walton-on-the-Naze. There are several groups of people who believe that it is worth the money, these include local residents, conversationalists and local business owners. Residents want to protect Walton because none of them wish to lose their homes to the sea, they believe that whatever can be done to conserve their homes should be done however high the cost. Conversationalists want to keep the area because the Naze provides homes to a great amount of wildlife whose homes are situated in an area most at risk from cliff collapse. Local businesses want to protect Walton-on-the-Naze because their livelihoods have been invested into their businesses so they are unable to afford to lose what they have got. Some people believe that Walton-on-the-Naze should not be saved, as there is very little which would attract tourists and more money could be spent improving other facilities. There are various benefits and costs from saving Walton-on-the-Naze as the problem can only be controlled and not prevented but is the job worth millions? “The cost of extending sea defences at Walton-on-the-Naze are too high and the benefits are too small.” I will now investigate this hypothesis and study how true it really is.

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How is the coast of Walton being protected at present?

There are various sea defences in action along the coastline of Walton-on-the-Naze. Some are relatively cheap but some are more effective. Protecting a coastline is an expensive business so understandably there are many disputes weather or not to invest in more worthwhile defences, cheaper defences or no defences at all. With no defences, Walton-on-the-Naze will disappear within the next hundred years. The materials on the cliffs are eroded in the following ways;

Wave erosion has created these low cliffs in the slide material.

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