Scoping how coasts are adapting to change

A quick scoping review to build a national picture of how coasts are adapting to change, including local authority activity and impacts on communities.

Documents

Scoping review: adaptation to coastal change - final report (2 MB) PDF

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email: defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

This quick scoping review was designed to investigate how our coasts are adapting to change. It looked specifically at the number of properties and types of infrastructure lost to coastal erosion since plans were first drawn up. It also looks at how many are at risk over the next 5 to 50 years.

The research included community infrastructure in its analysis, as well as economic cohesion measures and other strategies to adapt, put in place by local authorities.

The overall objective was to build a national picture of how our coasts are adapting to change, and identify where there are gaps in knowledge.

The research included:

  • a literature review of both grey and academic literature
  • mapping of properties at risk
  • interviews
  • synthesising evidence

This research was part of a larger programme of work that started in 2014 and was completed in 2018, at a cost of £22,430.

Updates to this page

Published 24 February 2021