Interreg Project - BERM (Beach Erosion in the Rives Manche) summary

This project is a Intereg II project with matching funds coming from the relevant local authorities. [An Interreg II programme funded by the European Union (Priority E: Environmental Conservation and Enhancement. Measure 9: Information, Prevention and Awareness)]. The study was undertaken by the Coastal Research Group, University of Sussex and the Université de Rouen and Université de Caen. It will help determine the extent to which contemporary shingle beaches of Rives-Manche are depleting and assess the risks that this will pose for the region in the face of rising sea levels.

The study encompasses the shingle beaches of the entire Rives-Manche region see map opposite. The project has yielded valuable new insights into shingle beach sustainability.

Outputs from the study include an International workshop which was held in October 2001 and described the key issues being studied. These studies included calculations of cliff and beach volumes to help estimate the availability of flint shingle to the shingle budget. The construction of sea walls on the English side of the Channel has significantly reduced the supply of flints from the cliffs,and this has important implications for beach sustainability. An interim report, final report and a bilingual summary of the final report are available to download via: http://www.geog.sussex.ac.uk/BERM/

INTERREG III Project Beaches at Risk (BAR).

The two English Partners University of Sussex and East Sussex County Council, aim to continue and expand the work carried out through BERM study on beach sediment budgets and the East Sussex Coastal Biodiversity Project carried out under Interreg II. Further information is available at http://www.geog.sussex.ac.uk/BAR/.

[A study of sediment budgets at Spey Bay in northeast Scotland takes a more wide-ranging view including sediment derived from the hinterland and the relationship between coastal processes and human coastal defence activities.]

Comment: The coast on the English side overlaps in the east with the Dungeness and Pett Levels CHaMP.