coastal landscape management- sandbanks Dorset Flashcards
sandbanks intro:
separates much of Poole harbour from Poole bay and is heavily managed.
environment agency 3 strategies:
1) Hold the line- maintain, sustain or improve existing defences.
2) managed realignment- existing defences moved to more sustainable positions.
3) no intervention- areas of low economic value are not protected.
need for management at sandbanks
1) large number of high value commercial properties built on it. Including sandbanks hotel and Haven hotel- provides significant employment opportunities and generate spending in local economy.
2) Beach is a major tourist attraction, it has a blue flag award for water quality and its great for families due to gentle slope.
3) Residential properties high in demand commanding premium prices. Large houses costing over £10M and luxury apartments starting from £2M.
management strategies and their impacts:
1) ROCK GROYNES- in order to maintain a deep wide beach, groynes minimise the movement of sediment along the beach by longshore drift. They also absorb energy and reduce rates of erosion. Its estimated without this erosion rates would be about 1M per year.
2) BEACH RECHARGE- used to conserve the beaches. Sand dredged offshore is sprayed onto the beach (rainbowing) adding to its size. There was a trial where dredged sand was dumped slightly offshore and natural currents would bring it onshore, however this didn’t really work. In total over 3.5 million m(3) of sediment has been added to Poole bay beaches.
