The sea is eroding beach at Seawick near Hutleys. Further south, where there are no groynes, the sea is close to eroding the sea wall. As these images from Google Earth show.
31 December 2000
31 December 2012
In 2000 there was a path, the sea side of wall, which cars could and did drive along.
By 2012 most of this path had eroded away, in one location.
Since 2012 the erosion has got much worse
31 Jan 2016
The Environment Agency has pile rocks against the wall, using the strategy which failed in Holland-on-Sea and Clacton.
Piling rocks against the wall doesn’t stop the sea from eroding material from underneath the rocks. In the next to pictures you can see (just about) how the rocks closest to the wall have dropped down below the level of the rocks closer to the sea.
This map from page 144 of EA’s SMP2 shows this stretch of coast marked bluey-purple. This indicates how EA sea this stretch of coast line between 2055 and 2105.
and the key on the same page
So EA’s policy is to either
- Hold the line (maintain the wall)
- Knock the wall down (Managed Realignment)
If there is at least the possibility of knocking the wall down in a few decades time, surely this will lessen the willingness to protect it now? And if the sea wall is breached EA can just say:
See we were right to say it was vulnerable, hard defenses don’t work you know.
I say the wall can be defended by building groynes just like the ones a few yards towards Jaywick.
It’s worth pointing out again the sea can erode material from under the wall or promenade.
And if you think the dual Hold The Line/Managed Realignment policy at Seawick is bad. Consider the plight of Fairbourne in Wales as reported by Daily Mail. At Fairbourne the policy is Managed Realignment after 2055.
I wonder what that’s doing to house prices now.
