Lyme Regis coastal management scheme
Phased sea walls, beach nourishment and cliff stabilisation costing tens of millions protect a small Dorset tourist town built on unstable slipping cliffs.
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Evidence
7 figures, each threaded to its source
Cost of Phase IV
19.5 millionGBP
3 sources
“Phase IV, a £19.5 million plan, has focused on protecting homes, roads and infrastructure”
Homes protected by Phase IV
480homes
3 sources
“Up to 480 homes have been saved from damage or loss of access”
Coastline secured by Phase IV
390metres
2 sources
“The works have secured around 390 metres of coastline between Church Cliff and East Cliff for the next 50 years”
Design life of the Phase IV defences
50years
2 sources
“secured around 390 metres of coastline between Church Cliff and East Cliff for the next 50 years”
Cost of the Phase II seafront works
22 millionGBP
2 sources
“£22 million was spent on extensive improvements to the seafront”
Government funding for Phase IV
14.6million GBP
“Defra funding of £14.6million was secured in March 2012”
Longest soil nails in the stabilised cliffs
19metres
“Nails, up to 19 metres long, have been installed into the cliffs.”
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Background
Lyme Regis is a small town on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, a World Heritage Site famous for fossils. It is built on some of the most unstable land in Britain. The cliffs are layers of clay, sand and limestone that slip when water soaks into them, and winter storms from Lyme Bay batter the sea front. Homes, the harbour and a tourist economy sit on this moving ground, so from the 1990s the local council ran a phased environmental improvement scheme. Early phases rebuilt the failing sea front, and between 2005 and 2007 about £22 million was spent on new sea walls, promenades and a wide sand and shingle beach. Phase IV, finished in 2015, cost £19.5 million and stabilised the cliffs east of the town with a new sea wall, better drainage and nails up to 19 metres long, securing around 390 metres of coastline for the next 50 years. The defences protect up to 480 homes and keep the visitors coming, but some argue they spoil the natural coast and interrupt the erosion that exposes fossils.
Causes
Weak and unstable geology
The town stands on layers of clay and sand over limestone. When rain soaks in, the clay becomes lubricated and whole sections of hillside slide towards the sea. Ancient landslips underneath the town can reactivate, cracking roads and buildings, so the ground itself needed engineering, not just the shoreline.
Storm wave attack from Lyme Bay
South westerly storms drive powerful waves into the sea front, eroding the foreshore and undermining the slopes above. Before the scheme, the old walls were failing and the beach was too thin to absorb wave energy, so every winter brought more damage to the promenade and the properties behind it.
A valuable town on moving ground
Lyme Regis depends on tourism, and its homes, harbour and seafront businesses are concentrated exactly where the land is least stable. Losing them to landslips would have cost more than the defences, so the cost benefit case favoured a large, phased scheme rather than doing nothing.
Effects
Primary
- Up to 480 homes are protected from damage or loss of access.
- Around 390 metres of unstable coastline east of the town was secured for the next 50 years.
- New sea walls and a wide sand and shingle beach now absorb storm waves before they reach the town.
Secondary
- The improved beach and seafront attract more visitors than before the works.
- Property in the town is easier to insure and holds its value because the landslip risk has fallen.
- The council is committed to maintaining and monitoring the defences indefinitely.
Social
- Residents no longer live with the constant threat of losing homes to landslips.
- The rebuilt promenade and beach give the town a safer and more attractive public space.
- Summer crowds and traffic congestion have grown as visitor numbers have risen.
Economic
- The tourist economy the town depends on is protected.
- The works were expensive, with about £22 million spent on the seafront phase and £19.5 million on Phase IV.
- Construction brought jobs and contracts to the area while each phase was built.
Environmental
- Natural cliff erosion is interrupted where the defences stand, so fewer fresh fossils are exposed there.
- The engineered sea front looks less natural on a coastline valued for its wild geology.
- Undefended stretches either side of the town still erode and slip naturally.
- The new beach changed how sediment moves along this part of Lyme Bay.
Responses
Immediate
- Failing sections of the old sea front were rebuilt in the first phase during the 1990s.
- Emergency repairs are carried out after severe winter storms.
- Instruments monitor ground movement in the slopes above the town so problems are spotted early.
Long term
- Phase II, from 2005 to 2007, built new sea walls and promenades and created a wide sand and shingle beach at a cost of about £22 million.
- Phase IV, from 2013 to 2015, spent £19.5 million stabilising the cliffs east of the town with a new sea wall, drainage, piling and soil nails.
- The defences are maintained and monitored continuously, and further work to protect the Cobb area has been planned.
- Cliff stabilisation used nails up to 19 metres long covered with long life mesh to hold the slope together.
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