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Coastal Landscapes » Coastal Management at Lyme Regis

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

AQA spec: 3.1.3.2

Why Lyme Regis in Dorset needs coastal management
The strategy used to protect the town and the cliffs
The effects of the scheme on people and the environment
The conflicts the scheme has caused

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Lyme Regis: an example of coastal management

Lyme Regis is protected from erosion and landslides by a big coastal scheme

The spec asks you to know an example of a coastal management scheme in the UK. This lesson uses Lyme Regis, a small seaside town in Dorset, on the western edge of the Jurassic Coast. For your example you need to know three things: the reasons for management, the management strategy, and the resulting effects and conflicts.

Key terms:

Landslide: a large mass of rock and soil that moves quickly downhill.
Cliff stabilisation: work that holds a cliff in place so it cannot slip.
Conflict: a disagreement between groups with different interests.

Reasons for management

⛰ Weak, unstable cliffs

The cliffs at Lyme Regis are made of layers of clay on top of harder limestone. Clay is soft and becomes slippery when it is wet, so the cliffs suffer slumping and landslides. Much of the town is built on this unstable land.

🌊 Powerful waves

The town is open to the sea, so strong waves hit the coast. They erode the foot of the cliffs, which makes the slopes above less stable.

There was a lot to protect. Homes, roads and businesses sit on or near the cliffs. The town depends on tourism, and the beaches, seafront and harbour are what visitors come for. Lyme Regis is also part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, so the cliffs are valuable for their fossils and wildlife.

In short, the reasons for management were to protect homes and businesses, to protect the seafront and tourism, and to slow landslides and erosion.

The management strategy

The scheme was called the Lyme Regis Environmental Improvements. It was planned in the early 1990s and built in stages, called phases, over about twenty years. It mixed hard engineering, soft engineering and work on the cliffs themselves.

🏗 Phase 1 (finished 1995)

A sea wall and promenade east of the mouth of the River Lim, to protect the seafront from the waves. (The Cobb is the old stone harbour wall at the western end of the seafront.)

⚓ Phase 2 (finished 2007)

New sea walls, a new shingle beach to absorb wave energy, and rock armour at the eastern end of the front.

💲 Phase 3 (not built)

A scheme for the stretch of coast west of the Cobb was considered, but it was not built because the costs were greater than the benefits.

🔧 Phase 4 (finished 2015)

About 390 metres of new sea wall east of the town, plus work to stabilise the cliffs above it, including nailing (steel rods fixed into the slope).

You already know sea walls, rock armour and beach nourishment from Managing the Coast. At Lyme Regis they were used together, so the wall holds back the waves while the beach absorbs their energy and the cliff work keeps the slope from slipping.

Worked example

Question: identify two parts of the Lyme Regis strategy and say what each does.
Answer: in Phase 4 a 390 metre sea wall stops waves reaching the foot of the cliff. Nailing the cliff above holds the slope together so it is less likely to slide.

Resulting effects

New sea walls and a wider beach have helped protect the town

✔ Positive effects

Homes and roads are better protected. Phase 4 alone protects up to 480 properties from damage or loss of access and secures about 390 metres of coast for around 50 years. A wide beach and new promenade attract visitors, which helps the local economy.

✖ Negative effects

The scheme was very expensive. Building work was noisy and disruptive for residents and visitors. Hard structures change the look of the coast.

Conflicts

Not everyone agreed about what should be done. Conflicts at Lyme Regis include:

Cost against benefit: the stretch west of the Cobb was left unprotected because the costs outweighed the benefits. Owners there may feel they have been left behind.
Protection against nature: the Jurassic Coast is valued for fossils exposed by erosion. Stopping erosion helps people in the town but can reduce the supply of new fossils.
Building work against tourism: long construction work disturbed visitors and businesses that rely on them.

Common mistakes

Writing only general facts about sea walls. Examiners want place-specific detail: name Lyme Regis, the clay cliffs, the phases and one or two real features such as the new shingle beach or the cliff nailing. Another mistake is forgetting the conflicts, which are a separate spec point.

Exam-style question

Using a named example of a coastal management scheme in the UK, explain the reasons for management and describe one conflict the scheme has caused. [4 marks]

Model answer

Lyme Regis in Dorset needed management because the cliffs are made of weak clay that slumps and slides when wet (1), and the town and its homes are built on this unstable land (1). The scheme included new sea walls and a shingle beach, with cliff nailing to stabilise the slopes (1). A conflict is that the Jurassic Coast is valued for fossils exposed by erosion, so protecting the cliffs can reduce the fossils people can find, even though it protects homes (1).

Exam tip

For "reasons for management" name the place, the geology (clay on limestone) and what was at risk, so each sentence earns a mark.

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