Case Study: The Holderness Coast, NE

England

Learning Objectives:To know and evaluate the range of management strategies

used across the Holderness CoastLearning Outcomes:

To use GIS maps to and link coastal management strategies to the SMP for the Holderness Coast

Tasks:1. Match the words to the pictures. Use this to write a

definition of the key term.2. Decide which location the satellite image is showing.

• Complete the table next to the map• Annotate the image: Positives and negatives of that type of

management and why you think they selected to use it in that particular location

3. As a group use the work we have completed today, the resource and your knowledge of GIS to help brainstorm ideas to help answer the exam question.

Case Study: The Holderness Coast, NE England

Tasks:1. Match the words to the pictures.2. Use this to write a definition of the key term.3. Check the answers of the group next to you and make any

relevant corrections

Case Study: The Holderness Coast, NE England

Integrated coastal management: Shoreline Management Plan (SMP):

Hold the Line: Advance the Line:

Retreat the Line: Do Nothing:

Holderness Coast Sediment Cell

Hornsea

Mappleton / Great CowdenWithensea

Easington

Spurn Head

Coastal Management

along the Holderness

Coast

Task: Decide which location the satellite image is showing using the descriptions

• Complete the table next to the map• Annotate the image: Positives and negatives of that type of

management and why you think they selected to use it in that particular location

Example: Skipsea

Example: SkipseaLocation Skipsea

SMP method Hold the line / Do nothing

Management Gabions (cages of rock)

Hard or Soft Engineering

Hard (Gabions), Soft (do nothing)

Gabion cages built by local landowner to protect caravan park

Have been successful in stopping erosionExpensive, as landowner has only been able to afford to protect a small area

Landowner has protected this area as the leisure park is worth the cost of the gabions. Not all is protected as the caravans can be moved away as the coast retreats

Erosion either side of the gabions has continued

Gabions are cheaper than sea walls and groynes, this has enabled a private landowner to pay for them

HornseaLocation

SMP method

Management

Hard or Soft Engineering

Mappleton

Location

SMP method

Management

Hard or Soft Engineering

WithenseaLocation

SMP method

Management

Hard or Soft Engineering

Easington

Location

SMP method

Management

Hard or Soft Engineering

Spurn Head

Location

SMP method

Management

Hard or Soft Engineering

Task: As a group use ideas form the work we have completed today, the resource and your knowledge of GIS to help brainstorm ideas to answer the exam question.

Rotate your work and add at least one new idea to the work of other groups

Coastal management along the Holderness Coast?

Integrated Coastal Management• Means that sections of the coast are managed as a whole, rather than by

individual towns or villages. Coastal engineers now realise that actions in one place have effects in other areas.

• Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) are used to manage smaller sub cell area. All local interest groups are consulted before taking one of the following options.

1. Do Nothing: e.g. let existing defences collapse2. Hold the Line: e.g. keep the coastline where it is by using hard

engineering3. Advance the Line: e.g. build coastal defences further out to sea

– breakwaters4. Retreat the Line: e.g. allow the coast to erode back to a defined

line The SMP for the Holderness Coast is:

• Hold the line in places of economic value – e.g. Gas pipe terminal at Easington and towns at Bridlington and Hornsea

• Do nothing in areas where nothing is worth protecting from erosion. Unprotected areas will eventually from bays. These will become more sheltered, and erosion should stabilise

What are the positives and negatives of Integrated Coastal Management

Coastal management along the Holderness Coast?

Positives• Combines hard engineering (for

places of economic value needing a strategy of hold the line) with soft engineering which is more sustainable and long term for areas of lower value or with valued eco-systems.

• They manage the coastline (sediment cell) as a whole so consider any consequences of management schemes on different areas of the coastline.

• They take into account the views of many local interest groups, so should be of benefit to most.

Negatives• It can be difficult and time

consuming to consult lots of different players, with different priorities.

• Hard engineering (holding the line) is expensive and can be short term.

• Holding the line in one place can have increased impacts in other areas. E.g. Mappleton – rock groynes leading to increased erosion in Great Cowden.

• Managed retreat (do nothing) is often unpopular, it can be seen as an ‘easy opt out’ and can be politically difficult to execute.

What are the positives and negatives of Integrated Coastal Management

May 2012