Eastbourne Case Study Flashcards
(8 cards)
Where is Eastbourne
East Sussex, southern England in the South Downs national park
Describe population
Growing population of 100,000 people
Describe threats to Eastbourne’s sea defences
- rising sea levels of 0.6-2.6m in next years
- 95% homes built on floodplains
= risk of flooding - new groynes cost up to £7000 per groyne
- new sea walls cost up to £3000-4000 per metre
- storms at winter caused groynes to collapse
- seawall undermined
- existing timber groynes are rotten, ineffective and dangerous
- chalk cliff to west of town rapidly eroding
Opportunities of Eastbourne
- £100k budget from council for defences and £1.8 million from environmental agency
- 94 timber groynes rebuilt using tropical hard rock
= help retain shingle added by reducing longshore drift - shoreline management plan for next 100 years to “hold the line”
Strengths of current defences
- existing sea wall of 3.6
- existing shingle beach
= absorb wave power - current groynes slow down passage of shingle along beach
What did Eastbourne do
- 1 million tonnes of shingle to beach
- rebuilt 94 timber groynes made of tropical ekki
- dumped rock armour at base of cliffs at Holywell
- used £30 million from DEFRA from 1994-1999
Impact of shingle lost
A lot of shingle lost
= risk of groynes becoming unstable in future
= must have additional shingle added
= has happened due to destructive waves and strong backwash that takes shingle and moves it along the beach
Describe views over strategies
Local residents are for the strategies
= help protect their properties
= reduces their insurance
= keep town attractive
Tourists are for the strategies
= improved sea front will increase tourists
= allow tourist companies to invest confidently
Environmentalists are against the strategies
= dredging impacts the sea bed environment
= unhappy with only hard engineering
