Hard Engineering - Sheringham Flashcards
Location of Sheringham
A rural town in North Norfolk, which attract tourists
e.g. by historical train station, boat museum, cheese shop
There are services for local people: solicitors and hardware shop
How many tourists come to Sheringham each year?
Attracts 4500 tourists a year
Population of Sheringham
Population: 7296 (1991)
What is the natural landscape like at Sheringham?
- Beaches - Made of shingle, mostly sloping, steep beaches
- Cliffs - Mainly made from clay (soft rock). Many have vegetation growing on them, indicates that erosion via sub-aerial processes are quite infrequent or not strong enough
What shoreline management plan does Sheringham use?
Hold the Line SMP as it is used as a tourist attraction which brings money into the local economy
What hard engineering strategies does Sheringham use?
- Rock groynes
- Wooden groynes
- Sea Wall
- Rock Armour
Describe Rock Groynes at Sheringham
Rock groynes
Cost: £125,000 per whole rock groyne
Igneous rock which has been brought in by a boat from Norway
Built at right angles to the coast
Trap sediment being moved along coast by longshore drift – building up the beach
Describe Wooden Groynes at Sheringham
Wooden groynes
Cost: £5000-£10,000 each (at 200 metre intervals)
Semi-permeable structures (gaps in structures)
Built at right angles to the coast
Trap sediment moving along coast by longshore drift – building up the beach
Positives and Negatives of Rock and Wooden Groynes at Sheringham
+ Builds up the beach which increases tourist potential and protects the land behind it, beaches are a natural defence against erosion (Soc/Env)
+ Provides habitats e.g. algae found on wooden groynes (Env)
- Can be seen as unattractive may unattract tourists (Env/Soc)
- Expensive (Rock) to build and maintain (Eco)
In 1998, £1.5m spent on replacing and repairing wooden groyne and building rock groynes
- Intrusive – prevents people from walking - unattract tourists (Soc)
- Prevents movement of sediment to other beaches (disrupts longshore drift)
Describe Sea Wall at Sheringham
Sea Wall Cost: £6000/m Concrete, & 2/5 metres tall Protects town and foot of cliff Breaks wave energy
Positives and Negatives of Sea Wall At Sheringham
- Expensive – sea wall from 1900 resurfaced in 1988 with concrete & replaced entirely in 1993 (Eco)
+ Tourists can walk along promenade - Promontory effect may occur (Env)
Describe Rock Armour at Sheringham
Rock armour
Cost: £100,000-£300,000 per 100m
Large rocks placed at foot of cliff or at top of beach
Forms a permeable barrier to the sea – breaking waves and allowing some water to pass through
At Sheringham, protects sea wall and promenade
Positive and Negatives of Rock Armour at Sheringham
+ Relatively cheap (£100,000-£300,000/100m) and easy to construct and maintain (Eco)
+ Often used for recreation – fishing/sunbathing (Soc)
- Intrusive – may unattract tourists (Soc/Eco/Env)
- Rocks from Norway - may look out of place with geology (mostly clay) (Env)
- Can be dangerous when people walk over them
Overall, is hard engineering sustainable at Sheringham?
The coastline each side of Sheringham have been designated ‘Managed retreat’ (to the east) or ‘Do nothing’ (to the west). With time this will result in the town becoming a promontory (headland), due to the area to the east and west of Sheringham eroding significantly faster whereas than the town as it is protected with hard engineering structures
Due to this the high tide will creep further up the beach, maybe to the sea wall and the low tide will be higher too, therefore less beach for tourists. The groynes will not be effective at holding the sand on the beach as they will be submerged for most of the day. Add to this predicted sea level rise of one or two centimetres and this effect will be accentuated.
The future will require a rethink of the current SMP to possibly ‘Managed retreat’ and the effects on the town and its tourist industry could be devastating.
Why Hold The Line at Sheringham?
- Cost benefit analysis indicates that the value of Sheringham’s assets outweighs the cost of its coastal defences. The town serves other communities as it is a key location for trade and amenities, and the tourism industry is important for the local economy.
- The longshore drift at Sheringham only transports sediment a short distance to Cromer, therefore the beaches much further down the coast do not depend on a large amount of sediment being eroded from Sheringham’s cliffs. Therefore protecting the cliffs with a seawall, promenade and rock armour does not cut off the input for these beaches. The inputs into the coastal system along this coastline are not altered dramatically.
