Working with Coastal Processes for Coastal Defence - A Case Study from Tywyn

Introduction

Victorian coastal defences around the UK have left a legacy of structures that have artificially

fixed the coastline in positions that today are unsustainable. With predictions of future climate

change and forecasts of increasing budgetary constraints the challenge for managers of such

structures is to ensure the most cost effective and suitable programme of upgrade,

replacement and/or repair.

It is important therefore to develop a level of understanding of the dominant coastal processes,

the existing problems at the defence and then to define a suitably effective solution. At

Tywyn, Cardigan Bay, Wales (Figure 1), a range of options had been proposed over 15 years