The Reality of Change: Involving Communities in Planning in Northwest Wales

Gregor Guthrie

A Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) “does not set policy for anything other than coastal defence management”, but within these simple words, within the Defra Guidance for preparation of SMPs (Defra 2006), can be hidden the start of a much broader process that may well outlive those involved with the SMP’s development; especially when that policy involves change.

The MCCIP Arc Science Review (K. Horsburgh et al 2010) reported that:

Are SMPs a route map and do they encourage change, or do they just sit on the shelf gathering dust? In many SMPs the need for change has been deferred to epoch 3 (50 to 100 years). Some would argue that this allows time for change to happen; some that this allows us to forget the need for change so as not to disrupt the present, paying lip service to the future, without the need to face the challenges now. Comment has been made that SMPs have not gone far enough in promoting change. For some, SMPs have gone too far, setting out policy for nothing else “than coastal defence management” without examining the broader implications: “A decision to allow the sea to flood 50 coastal villages in Wales, in a bid to cut costs in sea defences, could cost the country billions of pounds in lost tourism revenue, an expert has claimed.” (Daily Mail 2014)