At the third meeting of East Devon District Council’s Sidmouth & East Beach Management Plan (BMP) steering group, on Tuesday, 13 October 2015, the project received endorsement from Martin Davies, Flood & Coastal Risk Management Advisor at the Environment Agency.
The focus of the meeting was the presentation by coastal management experts CH2M of four baseline reports that are underpinning the development of the BMP, together with their long-list of potential coastal defense and beach management solutions.
As the steering group was able to see, the BMP has made steady progress in the hands of CH2M, who have collected data from a wide variety of sources to produce highly detailed documents, encompassing: Environmental (final version), Defense Assessment (final version), Coastal Processes (latest draft) and Economics (latest draft).
The reports by CH2M pinpoint specific issues and current management practices, which will now be addressed by the appraisal of the long list of options, which will deliver the aims of the project. The reports show that the main coastal and river defenses are sound, but the eroding beaches and cliffs will reduce their effectiveness.
Once the preferred options for beach management works have been agreed, East Devon District Council will apply in 2016 to the EA for central government funds to carry the project out.