This can be repeated several times to get an accurate measurement of the beach gradient.
What data to collect?
The data collected is the distance between the ranging poles and the angle (in degrees) for each site.
Why data is collected?
The data is collected to measure the gradient of the beach and it can be useful to indicate how much extra material has been added to the beach.
Where and when data is collected?
The Beach Profile technique was used at Sheringham and Overstrand beach on Saturday the 4th of October 2003 and it was primary data.
- Land Use Maps
For each of the sites visited we went to we drew a land-use map. The maps illustrated how the land was used at each site and indicated if the site had a large population depending on if is was a residential area or if it had lots of open space then it would most likely have a smaller population.
How to collect data?
This was achieved by going round in groups and making a note of what we saw at each of the site we visited. A square grid map was provided and we made references (letters) on this map to indicate what we saw.
What data to collect?
The data collected was related to the area, for example if it was a residential area, we would write R on the square grid or if we saw other types of Services we would write S in the square grid.
Why data is collected?
The data was collected to find out what was at each site we visited and how the land was used. It would be useful because if it had residential areas it would mean it would have a large population and if it had lots of open space it would have a small population.
Where and when data is collected?
We collected this data at Sheringham, West Runton and Overstrand on Saturday 4th October and it was primary data.
- Field Sketches
We went to four different beaches to look at its sea defences. For each different beach we went to we conducted a field sketch of the beach and its defences.
How to collect data?
We collected the data by drawing field sketches of each individual beach and its sea defences.
What data to collect?
On the beach we drew sketches.
Why data is collected?
The data was collected so we could see what sea defences the beach has and if it is useful.
Where and when data is collected?
We collected this data at Overstrand, Overstrand (Clifton Way), West Runton and Sheringham Beach on Saturday 4th October.
This data is secondary data.
- Questionnaire sheet
We used a questionnaire and an EQI to collect data. All the questions related to Coastal Defences in the areas studied and asked 10 people of what they thought.
How to collect data?
We collected this data by going round in groups and asking 10 people what they thought of the coastal defences.
What data to collect?
The data we collected was what people thought of the coastal defences.
Why data is collected?
The data is collected so we can see why coastal defences are required.
Where and when data is collected?
The data was collected at Sheringham on Saturday 4th October.
This data is primary data.
Part 3. The Problem and Management. Data Presentation and
Interpretation.
From our visit and study of the area the Norfolk coastline is being utilized in many different ways. Fishing and Tourism are the main activities of the area; however for centuries people have settled in these coastal locations to take advantage of its flat land, resources and transport potential.
Schools across the region and from other parts of England also visit the coastline areas to study the sea defences and some take measurements on the beach. The local population along the coastline is dependent on the coastlines, which are used for fishing, tourism, port for small sea vessels and also retirement homes.
Sections of the coastline are subjected to significant fetch (long traveled waves). The Norfolk Council has taken action and built a number of different types of sea defences on the coastline. These are Groynes, Gabion cages and Revetment. These defences have been constructed to limit coastal erosion and protect new and existing coastal developments.
Sheringham
At Sheringham the primary industry is fishing and many fishers fish along the coastline or take boats out to sea and go fishing. The secondary industry is tourism and hard engineering.
West Runton
West Runton is a small fishing village with not many fishers; this is due to the coast being rocky and not suitable for medium to large sea going vessels. West Runton is a very good attraction for tourists as it is of a special scientific interest and there are activities such as Karting, sailing, surfing and other holiday activities.
Overstrand
At Overstrand the main industry is fishing and tourism, however the tourism is mainly aimed at older and richer people.
This is a tourist fishing boat going on the North Norfolk coastline.
Tourist fishing boat (Figure 4)
Fishing is the primary activity in the region and there are many local companies who organize fishing not only for the locals but also for the tourists.
There are many local fishing sites in and around lakes. The Internet also has significant amount of information and good web sites that relate to local fishing.
Tourists use all three locations because they are fairly easy to get to using conventional transport because part of the study included finding out how easy the locations were to get to and this is shown on a bar chart (Graph 5) in the data presentation section.
Land-uses
Land uses are important because if you allow nature to take its course and if there is no coastal protection the waves would erode the land, shops and the buildings and then tourism would decline in Norfolk regions.
Coastal Management Techniques
The traditional 'hard' defence is the sea wall. In the past seawalls were vertical and deflected the energy of the waves away from the coast. They suffered a lot of damage in a short period of time.
Modern sea walls have a slope and curved top, which breaks up the energy of the wave and prevents water going over the top of the wall during heavy storms. Sea walls are very expensive (£2000-£5000 per metre) however they do last between 20- 30 years.
Above, Sea Walls (Figure 4)
The best form of natural defence is a beach, which efficiently absorbs the energy of the waves. However along many coasts, long shore drift causes the beach to thin out in places and erosion of the land behind becomes a problem.
Above, beach with groynes (Figure 5)
Groynes are designed to slow down long shore drift and build up the beach. They are usually made of tropical hardwoods, which are more resistant to erosion. A few are made of concrete, steel or in more recent time’s large rocks. They are built at right angles to the shore and spaced about 50-100 meters apart. Groynes may have a life of 15-20 years but often have to be replaced rather than repaired.
Groynes, (Figure 6)
From our site visit and field sketches of Clifton Way it was evident that the coastline was protected by a number of different types of Groynes to reduce the long shore drift. The Groynes were:- Erkingham, Normal, and Zig-Zag Gryones.
Also at Clifton Way there were Gabion cages to protect the promenade.
A cheaper alternative to sea walls is the revetment (about £1200 per metre). This is a sloping feature, which breaks up or absorbs the energy of the waves but may let water and sediment pass through.
The older wooden revetment consisted of posts fixed into the beach with wooden slats. Modern revetments are made of concrete and the blocks are shaped like stone, these are laid on top of a layer of finer material.
Rock armour or riprap consists of layers of very hard rock with the largest often weighing several tones, on the top. Riprap has the advantage of good permeability plus it looks more natural.
Above, drawing of Revetments (Figure 7)
From our field sketches it was clear that at West Runton the Revetments were ineffective, therefore Groynes were built to protect the coastline. Also at West Runton there was a simple wall built using Gabions cases to protect the promenade.
At Overstrand our field sketch indicated the use of Revetments and that new vegetation helped reduce the erosion on the coastline.
The gabion is a metal cage filled with rocks, about 1 metre by 1 Metre Square. They are stacked to form a simple wall. They are used to protect a cliff or area in the short term only, because they are easily damaged by powerful storm waves and the cages tend to rust quite quickly.
Gabions have the advantage of ease of use and are relatively cheap; however their life span is relatively short.
Above, drawing of a Gabion (Figure 8)
Where long shore drift is a serious problem and the supply of beach material is poor, it may be necessary to supplement the natural system by adding lorry loads of sand and shingle to the beach. The natural processes will then spread the material along the coast to help build up the natural defences.
This is called beach nourishment. Sometimes dredgers may be anchored offshore and the sediment sprayed on to the beach using high-pressure hoses.
Above, drawing of a lorry containing sand & shingle (Figure 9)
By protecting the land in the studied it has been possible to maintain and also increase the fishing activities and more importantly the tourism. The protection of such land can be a costly exercise, therefore the local authorities (The Norfolk Council) has to justify to the MAFF (the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) that the land must be protected. The MAFF operate a Prioritization Scoring Scheme to optimize the allocation of Grant Aid for Flood and Coastal Defence works.
The scheme works on a priority score system, consisting of the following Components: Priority, Urgency and Economics.
Data Presentation and Interpretation of Results
From our field studies we used an EQI (Environmental Quality Index) to indicate our personal opinion about various aspects of each site. Six categories were used and each site was given a score out of 10 (0 for negative and 10 for positive, or 0 for very little and 10 for A Lot)
The six categories are:
In addition to the EQI data, we also used data that was provided to us as part of our course work. This data relates to The Prioritization Scoring Scheme for Sheringham and Overstrand, Clifton Way and is explained in more detail further down in this section.
Data from the EQI is used and presented in forms of graphs and charts to indicate ones personal opinion about various aspects of a site.
(Chart 1, Column) shows the Human Intervention at the 4 sites visited
The above bar chart indicates the Sheringham and Overstrand Beach both have had more human intervention then Clifton Way and West Runton, meaning that the natural defenses at in particular West Runton are effective and little intervention is required.
The effect of Management on the coastal properties and infrastructure is shown below on a graph. The graph indicates that the effect of management at West Runton is inclined to be more negative then positive, where as the other 3 sites have positive effects.
(Chart 2, Bar) Effect of Management on the coastal properties and infrastructure
The effect of Management on the primary industry on the 4 sites is illustrated below. At Overstrand the management has built an access road into the sea to allow fisherman to take their boats straight into the sea. The chart indicates a positive effect by management on all 4 sites.
(Chart 3, Column) shows the effect of management on the primary industry
The EQI also has a measurement of the Aesthetic value for each of the sites. Two of the sites, West Runton and Overstrand Beach have an average aesthetic value, whereas Sheringham is attractive then Clifton Way. This illustrates and proves that Sheringham attracts more tourists than the other 3 sites.
(Chart 4, Pie) illustrates the Aesthetic Values of each site
Access to the sites is also very important and from the above chart we can assume that access to Sheringham, Overstrand Beach and West Runton should be reasonable good.
This is evident in the chart below, which show that access to these sites is good and that Clifton Way does not have reasonably good access. (Chart 5, Column) illustrates the access measurement on a column chart.
Similar to having effective management for protecting coastal properties, infrastructure and primary industry it is also important to have effective management to protect the areas along the coastline.
The bar chart below indicates that the effect of management is less at Sheringham and Overstrand Beach then the other two sites. This result is slightly misleading because the other charts indicate that Sheringham and Overstrand Beach are the two areas which are more attractive and have better access and that they have higher aesthetic values.
However the results are shown below and then concluded in Part 4 of the course work. (Chart 6, Column) illustrates the effect of management on areas along the coast.
The charts represented in this section show that the defenses put in place to protect the environment are effective and that they protect and help maintain the local industry. Additional information which is provided as part of the course work also show that Sheringham and Clifton Way would be likely to receive approval for grant aid for coastal protection.
Below is the Threshold of the Prioritization Scoring Scheme.
Sheringham Coast Protection Scheme, Stage 2 scored a total of 22 points and Overstrand, Clifton Way Scheme scored a total of 20 points. Both these schemes would have been considered in some years and not in others, however it is likely that they would have received approval for it.
Questionnaire Sheet on Coastal Defences
1) Gender: Male / Female
2) Age: 0-30 30-60 60+
3) Resident / Non resident
4) Does coastal erosion affect where you live?
5) Are you aware of the importance of coastal defences?
6) Do you think coastal erosion is a serious problem in the area? Yes / No
7) What do you think the Council should spend its money on: Rank 1 with most important and 5 the least important.
Schools
Transport
Sea Defences
Health Services
Other
8) Do you think the £280’000 per year the North Norfolk Council is spending on maintaining coastal defences along the Norfolk coastline is justified? Yes / No
9) Would you like to see an increase or decrease in money spent on coastal protection? Increase / Decrease / Same
10) How do you rate the effectiveness of Coastal Defences in the Area? 1-10
We conducted a questionnaire on the coastal defences asking 10 people what they thought about the coastal protection scheme and below was their answers:
Question Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1) Male
Female
2) 0-30
30-60
60+
3) Res.
Non- Res.
4) Yes
No
5) Yes
No
6) Yes
No
7) Schools
Transport
Sea Defences
Health Services
Other
8) Yes
No
9) Yes
No
10) …../10
Key for Land-use maps:
CT- Commercial- Tourist
Cr- Commercial- Residential
R- Residential
BB- Small Hotels and B&B’s.
At Sheringham we found out that a lot of it was residential area. This means there would be a large population. There were also commercial- tourists areas and B&B’s for tourists to stay in.
At Overstrand most of the land was used up by residential areas, which also meant that Overstrand had a large population. There were also Commercial- residential areas where residents would stay.
We found out that all of West Runton was residential area, which meant that not a lot of tourists would go there.
The land in all these places should be protected because there are lots of residents staying at Sheringham, Overstrand and West Runton. It should also be protected at Sheringham because it is a tourist site and they would lose a lot of money from tourism if they didn’t protect the land.
Part 4 Conclusions and Evaluation
The Question:
Should the coast between Overstrand and Sheringham be protected at any cost, or should nature be allowed to take its course?
We defined 6 further key questions (listed below) to answer the above question, this part answers the questions by using the information in part 3 and studied material and concluded the findings.
- What is the economic and environmental value of the land in the study areas?
- What types of coastal defenses are there in the areas studied?
- How effective are these defenses in protecting the coastline?
- How effective are they in helping to maintain the local industry?
- How do local people feel about the existing shoreline management plan?
- Does the value of the coastline in the study areas justify the money spent protecting them?
- Does protecting these areas help protect any other areas of high economic value?
What is the economic and environmental value of the land in the study areas?
As in many cases within the UK, economic values have to be considered along with environmental ones. Coastlines are used by people in many different ways e.g. ports, vacation venues and for fishing. The economic advantages of building coastal defences is that the land would be preserved and therefore income would come from resorts, leisure activities and vacation venues. Preserving the environment would also benefit the local residents through an improved quality of life. Twenty-nine villages have been lost in the past thousand years to the sea. Eventually the sea will erode the coastlines resulting in the UK becoming smaller and at one point we may have to protect our coasts at any costs, so environmentally it would make sense to start protecting our coastlines before anymore villages are lost to the seas.
Chart 4, illustrates how aesthetically pleasing each area is and gives us an indication of the publics opinion. Without coastal protection the land might start to have a lower aesthetic value, which may result in less tourism and residents may decide to leave the area. Chart three displays our views on human intervention within the local areas. In Sheringham, Overstrand Beach and Overstrand (Clifton Way), we believe that human intervention is improving each area.
What types of coastal defences are there in the areas studied?
Coastal protection schemes have already been introduced in these areas. At Sheringham Beach five coastal protection schemes have been installed:
Large granite stones
Rock armour
Rip-Rap
Flat sea-wall
Groynes
At West Runton Beach five coastal protection schemes are in place:
Gabion Cages
Groynes
Wave breaker
Curved sea-wall
Non-working revetment
At Overstrand Beach two coastal protection schemes have been installed:
Revetment
Rip-Rap
Overstrand (Clifton Way) is an area protected by four main coastal protection schemes:
Gabion Cages
Promenade
Flat sea-wall
Groynes- Erpingham Groynes, normal groynes and zigzag groynes.
How effective are these defences in protecting the coastline?
Chart four refers to the effectiveness on the coastal management schemes in place in each different area. Out of the four areas study within this coursework only in one of the areas that the coastal protection scheme was ineffective. At Sheringham, Overstrand Beach and Overstrand (Clifton Way) the schemes are effective and successful, but at West Runton the coastal protection schemes were not working.
How effective are they in helping to maintain the local industry?
Much of the local industry is primary and chart five shows that the coastal protection schemes have affected local industries. The majority in all areas believed that the coastal protection schemes had affected their local industries for the better. Chart five shows that the schemes in each area have had a good affect on the primary industry, which is mainly based upon fishing.
How do local people feel about the existing shoreline management plan?
A questionnaire was produced to show an overall public view on existing shoreline management plans of all the areas studied in general. It illustrates that the coastal erosion does affect the area that the residents live in, and that everyone is aware of the importance of installing coastal protection schemes to protect our environment.
Local people are educated in how important these defences really are and many believe that there should be an increase in the money spent on sea defence. The current coastal protection schemes are seen as methods of protecting our environment, but the local people do not highly rate the effectiveness of the schemes. The people surveyed rated the effectiveness of the schemes out of ten. The average was 5.33 therefore suggesting that they believe the schemes in place are enough to completely protect the environment.
Does the value of the coastline in the study areas justify the money spent protecting them?
If you were to look at the situation from an economic point of view, you would realise that the revenue gained from tourism and other coastal activities may not be as much as what is being spent on coastal protection. But when considering if the value of the coastline in the study areas justify the money spent protecting them, just remember that it is more than the coastlines you are protecting, it is also people’s livelihood. If the coast keeps moving inwards due to erosion it will eventually affect residential areas and people may have to move out. Homes and communities may be destroyed and therefore it is justifiable to spend a certain amount of money protecting the coastlines.
Should the coast between Overstrand and Sheringham be protected at any cost, or should nature be allowed to take its course?
The United Kingdom, as an island nation, has always had a close relationship with the sea and for centuries people have settled in coastal locations to take advantage of its flat land, resources and transport potential. Consequently, coastal defences and especially port facilities have also been constructed over the centuries, although these attempts have met with varying degrees of success.
The industrial revolution resulted in a much higher demand for the benefits of a coastal land; the society demanded coastal processes. However, this development was increasingly threatened by the natural erosion and flooding processes of the coastal environment. To deal with the threat the new technologies were used to create coastal defences, on a scale unseen before, to oppose the action of the sea and protect the assets behind. Coastal development has continued throughout the last century, resulting in a continual demand for defences to protect it.
Coastal defences, by their nature, disrupt the natural processes functioning on the coastline but early knowledge of these processes was somewhat limited.
The time difference between the widespread construction of coastal defences and the detailed understanding of coastal processes meant that defences were often constructed in what would prove to be inappropriate. Unfortunately, by the time this was realised so much development had occurred that defences had to be maintained, even if they were causing further problems.
The Coast Protection Act gave the Coast Protection Authority to do whatever it needed to protect their land in their area. The approach of coastal management for each council differed, particularly because of financial commitments. There was no long-term policy for coastal management and work was carried out on a yearly basis.
The North Norfolk council became the new Coast Protection Authority and examined what coastal management they needed to carry out. They built many sea defences such as sea walls, groynes, revetment and gabion cages.
Sea walls though are very expensive costing £2000- £5000 but lasts 20- 30 years. A cheaper alternative for sea walls is revetment, which cost £1200 per metre. Gabion cages are used as they are very cheap but have a short life span.
We carried out a questionnaire at Overstrand asking the residents what they thought about sea defences. The questionnaire showed that all people thought that more money should be spent on sea defences.
Although some defences are doing worse than good and would be better if nature took its course. -
Part 5 Bibliography and Appendices
Publications and Articles
Kingswood Educational Activity Centers – Course material
Geography Green Booklet
World Wide Web sites
Fishing trips on the Norfolk Coastline
Fishing sites in Norfolk and Norfolk Coastline
Computer Software used
Microsoft Word – Word Processing the Course Work
Microsoft Internet Explorer – Tool to carry out research on the World Wide Web
Microsoft Excel – To produce graphs and charts
Microsoft Paint – To edit drawings and illustrations
Appendices
Field Studies: Beach Profile Recording Sheet
Environmental Quality Index
DEFRA published threshold scores
Land Use Mappings