Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs)

The joint MAFF / Welsh Office publication (DEFRA 2001) of a flood and coastal defence strategy for England and Wales in 1993, encouraged coastal managers and decision makers to work together in coastal groups to develop Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs). These aimed to provide large-scale assessments of the risks associated with coastal processes, presenting a policy framework to reduce these risks to people and the environment. An SMP is a high-level document that forms an important element of the Strategy for Flood and Coastal Defence of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the National Assembly for Wales (NAW, http://www.wales.gov.uk/index.htm). The strategy aims to reduce risks by:

• encouraging the provision of adequate and cost-effective flood warning systems;
• encouraging the provision of adequate, technically, environmentally and economically sound and sustainable flood and coastal defence measures;
• discouraging inappropriate development in areas at risk from flooding or coastal erosion.

Second generation Shoreline Management Plans

Comparative reviews of some of the 49 SMPs indicated inconsistencies in the consideration given to coastal processes, geomorphology and the prediction of future coastal evolution. Furthermore, there was often a lack of appreciation of long-term shoreline evolution and therefore insufficient use of such knowledge as a basis for identifying sustainable shoreline management policies. In order to help guide the next round of SMPs, which started in 2002, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the National Assembly for Wales (http://www.wales.gov.uk/index.htm) collaborated in the promotion of a coastal process and geomorphological study of the coastline, which has become known as 'futurecoast'. The CHaMPs will help in the development of this next generation of SMPs, contributing to the flood and coastal defence strategy within the area. It will also inform other plans and policies such as those of the Local Planning Authority, farming, business and conservation organisations.

Comment: Information on SMPs obtained from the DEFRA web site http://www.defra.gov.uk/.

References

DEFRA 2001. Shoreline Management Plans: a Guide for Coastal Defence Authorities. . Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London. Abstract...