North West Coastline

Introduction

The North West North Wales Coastal Group is one of six Coastal Group’s in England. It is a strategic partnership focused on developing a long-term sustainable vision for the North West coast by encouraging proactive management and pooling of resources across the region. The Coastal Group is formed of local authorities, the Environment Agency, Natural England and other organisations that work together to oversee the strategic management of the coastline from Great Ormes Head in Wales up to the Scottish border. The Group works closely with and reports to the North West Regional Flood and Coastal Committee to contribute coastal expertise and inform flood and coastal erosion risk management programmes.

The coastline is a dynamic, ever-changing place that is home to many people and businesses, as well as being important for its variety of environmental and geologic features. The Group examines the social, economic and environmental issues that arise on the coastline and seeks to find the best policies to deal with those issues.

Here are some of the ways they manage the coast:

Undertake monitoring of coastal processes to understand where the current risk is and predict where the longer-term risk is.
Undertake inspections of coastal defences to understand their condition.
Use this information to inform where they target flood and coastal erosion risk management works and inform maintenance programmes for current defences.
Continue to monitor the coast and use information from the most recent reports and guidance e.g. UKCP18 to inform their understanding of risk.

Click here to visit the new North West North Wales Coastal Group website

For further information on coastal flooding and management, visit The Flood Hub Coastal page here.

Image: The Environment Agency – Sea Wall at Blackpool

Coastal Schemes

Here you can find information on completed coastal schemes in the North West that are included on our Local Area Map, including links to further information.

Image: The Environment Agency

Anchorsholme Coast Protection Scheme

Status: Complete

Overview: This scheme is a part of the Fylde Penisula Coastal programme which is a partnership between the Environment Agency and Wyre, Blackpool and Fylde Councils. The scheme aimed to help reduce the flood risk to 4800 properties in the area, as well as protecting local businesses and tourist attractions by building a 1km stretch of new sea wall to replace the old one.

More information:

Fairhaven and Church Scar Coast Protection Scheme

Status: Complete

Overview: The scheme was completed ahead of schedule in July 2020 by VBA, a joint venture between VolkerStevin, Boskalis Westminster and Atkins. It will protect 2,400 residential properties from coastal erosion and flooding through reducing the impact of extreme weather and climate change. The scheme involved replacing old sea defence walls and raising the defences to withstand a 1-in-200 year storm event whilst having a lifespan of 100 years.

More Information:

VolkerStevin article

Hesketh Out Marsh East

Status: Complete

Overview: The aim of this scheme was to reduce the risk of flooding to over 140 properties and farmland on the south side of the Ribble Estuary without increasing flood risk elsewhere. This was done by strengthening and refurbishing 2km of flood embankments and recreating a salt marsh in front of it as part of managed realignment.

More information:

Morecambe Wave Reflection Wall Phase 1, Bare to Lord Street

Status: Complete

Overview: This project was part of a larger scale project led by Lancaster City Council that is made up of three phases to protect people and 12,000 homes and businesses from coastal flooding and erosion through upgrading 4km of sea defence wall. This phase involved constructing 1.8km of new sea wall to replace the existing damaged on, over time, the old sea wall was affected by alkali silica reaction (ASR). VBA Joint Venture Ltd, carried out the work, they are a group of environmental engineers and design consultants from Atkins, Boskalis and Volkerstevin.

More Information:

Morecambe Wave Reflection Wall Phase 2 between the Midland Hotel and the Battery

Status: Complete

Overview: This project is part of a larger scale project led by Lancaster City Council, that is made up of three phases to protect people and 12,000 homes and businesses from coastal flooding and erosion through upgrading 4km of sea defence wall. Phase two involved replacing the sea wall between Central Drive and Regent Road with precast concrete units, similar to Phase 1 of the project, except the wall has a wave return curved profile. The wall between Regent Road and the Battery alongside the West End Gardens has been refurbished, this will be similar to phase 3 of the project. Furthermore, there is completion of hard and soft landscaping to provide amenity. VBA Joint Venture Ltd, carried out the work, they are a group of environmental engineers and design consultants from Atkins, Boskalis and Volkerstevin.

More Information:

Morecambe Wave Reflection Wall Phase 3, Sandylands Promenade between the Battery and the Oakley.

Status: Complete

Overview: This project is part of a larger scale project led by Lancaster City Council, that is made up of three phases to protect people and 12,000 homes and businesses from coastal flooding and erosion through upgrading 4km of sea defence wall. A stretch of the wall has been refurbished in a six stage process to expose seals and repair cracks on the existing wall units. The refurbishment has a rendered and painted finish which will extend the life of the wall and ensure that the existing flood protection levels are kept. VBA Joint Venture Ltd, carried out the work, they are a group of environmental engineers and design consultants from Atkins, Boskalis and Volkerstevin.

More Information:

Volkerstevin article

Rossall Coastal Defence Improvement Scheme

Status: Complete

Overview: The scheme was led by Wyre Council in partnership with the Environment Agency and the main contractor was Balfour Beatty. The aim of the scheme was to reduce the risk of coastal flooding to around 7500 properties, the towns tramway, hospitals and schools.

2km of sea defences were constructed along the coast which are designed to last for the next 100 years and include a curved sea wall, rock revetments, rock groynes, cross over ramps and steps through the revetment, to allow access to the beach. The scheme has also taken into account the effects of climate change and changes in sea level and weather patterns. Additional features of the scheme include a new ecology park on the landward side of the defence and the creation of a lagoon to act as extra flood water storage from spray that has overtopped the sea wall.

More Information:

Starr Hills Sand Dunes Environmental Work

Status: Complete

Overview: The scheme was led by Fylde Council in partnership with Blackpool Council and the Lancashire Wildlife Trust with funding from the Environment Agency. The aim of the scheme was to improve the sand dunes and salt marshes as a soft sea defence and to improve habitats and conservation. The dunes were stabilised through a variety of methods, for example, by building fences seawards of the dunes to prevent trampling and allowing them to grow. Christmas trees have also been planted to improve sand accretion and to protect vegetation.

More information:

Fylde Council Website

Wallasey Embankment Toe Reinforcement Works

Status: Complete

Overview: The Wallasey Embankment is a 3.5km long sloping sea wall and promenade that provides flood and erosion protection to large parts of the North Wirral hinterland, specifically large parts of Leasowe, Moreton and Meols. The scope of the work included excavating approximately 3,800 cubic metres of existing beach (sand and gravel) deposits, placement of approximately 8,500 square metres (sq m) of geotextile sandmat; and importing and placement of approximately 7,000 tonnes of 60-300kg rock armour.

More Information:

Click here to view our page all about the scheme.

West Kirby Flood Alleviation Scheme

Status: Complete

Overview: The West Kirby Flood Alleviation Scheme is being led by Wirral Council and aims to protect West Kirby from tidal flooding. In order to do this, a new 1.2m high pre-cast concrete flood wall with integrated seating has been built along South Parade.

More information:

Click here to view our page all about the scheme.

Wyre Beach Management Scheme

Status: In Progress: Under construction (November 2023)

Overview: This scheme is a part of the Wyre Core Area Coastal Strategy. The scheme aims to help reduce the flood risk to 11,000 properties in the area, as well as protecting local businesses and tourist attractions by stabilising beach levels through the construction of rock headland groynes and protection against sea wall failure during storm events by the installation of rock revetments.

More information:

Coastal Monitoring

The North West Regional Coastal Monitoring programme stretches from Wirral to the Scottish border, and is one of six regional monitoring programmes that forms a national network across England. The programme facilitates the systematic collection of coastal monitoring data to inform sustainable decision-making on the coast.

The programme is funded by Defra, and Sefton Council act as the lead authority. All of the data that is collected through the programme is gathered and managed by Sefton Council and made publicly available through the Channel Coast Website at https://www.channelcoast.org/.

Click here to view the Local Area map which includes a ‘Coastal monitoring’ filter that highlights wave buoy, tide gauge and camera locations.

Types of coastal monitoring conducted on the North West coast include:

Beach Profile Surveys

Information on the changes in the profile of the beach is obtained by recording beach levels (heights relative to a datum) at intervals along a number of lines across the beach. The profile lines run down the beach from approximately 100m inland across the beach to Mean Low Water Springs. Profile data is collected twice a year and used to establish how the beach moves and how the profile changes across the beach, over time.

Image: The Environment Agency – Selection of beach profile locations along the Sefton frontage (left) which can be analysed to understand changes in beach volume over time (right)

Topographic Surveys

Similar to beach profile surveys, height data is recorded along lines at a greater interval and is then used to calculate overall changes in beach volume between surveys and across years. Topographic surveys are also conducted twice a year at high risk areas.

Image: The Environment Agency – Data collection points of a topographic survey on the Sefton frontage (left) which can be translated into a Digital Elevation Model (right)

Bathymetric surveys

Continuations of the beach profile lines out into the sea to establish the level of the sea bed below the low water mark. Hydrographic survey extensions of beach profiles have been used to record the seabed levels at distances up to 3km offshore across the frontage.

Image: The Environment Agency – Bathymetric data collected across the Sefton frontage

Wave Buoys

Wave buoys are capable of measuring wave height, period, direction, velocity, temperature, pressure and current offshore. This information provides an understanding of offshore conditions and what is propagating towards the coastline. This can be used to understand current risk and to inform the design of future coastal defences to ensure they are able to withstand the environment which they will operate in.

Image: The Environment Agency – Wave rose collected from a wave buoy at Formby, detailing wave direction and speed

LiDAR Survey

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) surveys provide an alternative method of recording beach and hinterland height data from an aeroplane. It is particularly useful for recording large and/or inaccessible areas or where there may be health & safety issues associated with traditional land-based survey methods. LiDAR data is used to identify the topography of an area and when compared to a previous survey to identify areas of erosion and accretion.

Image: The Environment Agency – Extract from a lidar survey flown over the Sefton frontage

Aerial Photography

Aerial photography records an image taken from the air in the visual spectrum. It can be collected vertically (map view) or at an angle (oblique). Vertical photography can be geo-rectified and used in a GIS system.

Image: The Environment Agency – Extract from aerial photography flown over Hightown

The Flood Hub

Introduction

Coastal Schemes

Anchorsholme Coast Protection Scheme

Fairhaven and Church Scar Coast Protection Scheme

Hesketh Out Marsh East

Morecambe Wave Reflection Wall Phase 1, Bare to Lord Street

Morecambe Wave Reflection Wall Phase 2 between the Midland Hotel and the Battery

Morecambe Wave Reflection Wall Phase 3, Sandylands Promenade between the Battery and the Oakley.

Rossall Coastal Defence Improvement Scheme

Starr Hills Sand Dunes Environmental Work

Wallasey Embankment Toe Reinforcement Works

West Kirby Flood Alleviation Scheme

Wyre Beach Management Scheme

Coastal Monitoring

Types of coastal monitoring conducted on the North West coast include:

Beach Profile Surveys

Topographic Surveys

Bathymetric surveys

Wave Buoys

LiDAR Survey

Aerial Photography

Case Studies