Eastbourne Case Study Flashcards
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
