Large Areas Of N. Yorkshire Coast Will Be Left To Climate Change - BBC

[hatrack]

Large stretches of the North Yorkshire coast will be left at the mercy of the elements under sea defence plans for the next 100 years, it has emerged.

The Shoreline Management Plan covering the coast from Staithes to Flamborough Head predicts "a substantial loss of land" because of erosion. It acknowledges properties will be lost but says "action to defend them would be difficult to justify economically".

EDIT

The report predicts "a significant area of loss to some of the more mobile or softer commercial activities of the area" - such as farmland along much of the coastline, golf courses at Seaton Carew, Whitby and Filey, and caravan parks at Coatham, south of Whitby, and at Filey. Similarly, nothing would be done to protect properties at Flat Cliff, a small community on the coast a couple of miles south of Filey. It says at Sandsend, north of Whitby, an alternative route should be found for the road which currently runs along the coast.

The document says: "Within 100 years the plan acknowledges a substantial loss of coastal land currently supporting agriculture, recreation and leisure activities. "The challenge in managing such frontages will be to examine the balance between natural, technical and economic considerations.

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/5167896.stm

[aquart]

1. Competent governments plan for climate change.

Our government? No plans.

[geardaddy]

2. K & R

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Nothing to do with climate change, really

Erosion (and bits of deposition) have been happening on the Yorkshire coast for centuries. See eg, just down the coast:

The coast line of Holderness, East Yorkshire, is one of the fastest eroding in the world. The soft boulder clay cliffs, left after the retreat of the Devensian ice sheets about 12,000 years ago, are rapidly being eaten away by the sea. This web site brings together data collected by the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain almost 150 years ago with the most recent aerial photographs, courtesy of Getmapping plc. By examining this data-set it is possible to calculate the rate at which the cliffs are receding and how effective the sea defences have been at combating this loss.

http://www.herb.hull.ac.uk/erosion/index.htm

In 1912 Tom Sheppard, the curator of Hull’s municipal museum, published his famous ‘Lost Towns of the Yorkshire Coast’. This wonderfully entertaining book brought together a huge body of facts, pictures and anecdotes concerning the erosion of the Holderness coast.

Hornsea is a small town with its old centre near to the only remaining mere in Holderness and Yorkshires largest natural lake. Although already a thriving market town, it started to grow with the arrival of the railway in 1864. The old coastal settlement of Hornsea Beck had by this time been washed away and Victorian expansion made Hornsea a coastal town and popular holiday resort. It was about this time that the first sea defences were constructed. These defences have been maintained and enlarged.

http://www.herb.hull.ac.uk/erosion/html/history.html

A rising sea level won't help this, but erosion would happen anyway.

[Dead_Parrot]

4. Very true...

...they've already experimented with defenses on eroding bits of land - when in place, other areas suffered because they were cut off the supply of new material. Coasts are dynamic, and unless you live in Holland there's really no point in trying to control them.

Maybe a lesson for NOLA in there. :D