3 minute read
North Norfolk Coast Restoration
Norfolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom
The North Norfolk Coast has high landscape, biodiversity, and geodiversity value, with a range of statutory designations for conservation. The risk of saline flooding to farmland as well as to freshwater or wet grassland conservation sites, property, and infrastructure is managed through a suite of measures, including seawalls and natural barriers. A series of schemes has been developed by the Environment Agency of England over the past 15 years, driven by the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) and other initiatives that work with natural processes.
EU LIFE, a European Union funding instrument for environment and climate change, funded this project. It also enabled implementation of a realignment (or restoration) project at Brancaster in 2002 (approximately 0.75 kilometers of frontage). The realignment project restored dune function; created 7.5 hectares of intertidal habitat; and protected and enhanced freshwater habitat.
Article cover: Brackish and saline habitats at Cley Marshes, 2017. (Photo by Oli Burns, Environment Agency)
Producing Efficiencies
Although an adaptive management approach has been proposed for the future, defenses are at risk from extreme events. The need to respond to extensive seawall breaching in the 2013 surge event led to a redesign of the Blakeney Freshes structures. The redesign allowed for the possibility that overtopping might occur in future storms, but the modifications would result in less structural damage.
Using Natural Processes
The schemes had different designs, but they all addressed the need to work with natural processes and allow coastal evolution in order to provide flood and coastal erosion protection, while also protecting freshwater habitats and enhancing coastal/brackish habitats.
Works included Brancaster: deteriorating rock armor (rip-rap and gabions) fronting sand dunes were removed to allow roll-back and the development of a more natural form; Holme Dunes: dragon-tooth fencing was used to aid sand trapping in front of an eroding dune ridge, which protects the freshwater area and property; and Cley to Salthouse: restoration of the natural functioning shingle barrier beach after decades of intervention to facilitate natural post-storm recovery and maintain appropriate flood protection while reducing or removing maintenance requirements.
Broadening Benefits
These projects were developed as a means of attaining the principal goals of improving the standard of flood and coastal erosion protection and conserving and enhancing the environment; however, these projects in combination have also improved the aesthetic value of the coastline and created habitats that are more resilient to the effects of climate change.
Promoting Collaboration
The North Norfolk Coast case study is an important example of gradually building confidence and trust in Working with Natural Processes (WwNP) among stakeholders and the public. Successful implementation of multiple small-scale measures over several years— for example, providing protection against the 2013 tidal surge event and improving the resilience of the shoreline to subsequent storms—has significantly contributed to the process of consensus building. This is a valuable lesson for areas where WwNP measures are viewed as inferior to hard engineering.
