Abstract
The largest and longest running coastal management scheme within the UK, located between Saltfleet Haven and Gibraltar Point, forms part of the flood defences which reduce flood risk to around 30% of Lincolnshire. More specifically the coastal frontage between Mablethorpe and Skegness is entirely artificial through human intervention and current management measures. This stretch of around 22km in length used to be a coastline with dunes acting as a barrier beach providing some protection, until in Victorian times attitudes changed with people leaving their local villages and having days out by the sea. This was made possible by the arrival of trains and trams. It was during this time that the seaside town’s promenades and low level seawalls were constructed, not to hold back the sea, but for people to be able to access the beach. The areas in-between the towns formed more natural defences through sand dunes.
On the night of 31 January 1953, considerable areas along the coast of Lincolnshire were flooded and forty-two people lost their lives. The destruction didn’t stop that night however and the morning’s high tide combined with the continuing storm saw the flooding get worse. It eventually reached more than two miles inland.
The outcome prompted the construction of more substantial defences along the frontage and was the birth of the defences that still exist today. The beach could no longer roll back in response to natural processes, so it was gradually lost. At the same time, there was substantial new development directly behind the seawall due to the confidence placed in it by local people and planners. Today the concrete seawall and beach frontage provides the primary protection to homes, businesses, associated infrastructure and agriculture across 35,000 hectares of the land area of Lincolnshire. Since 1994, annual beach nourishment to sustain the 1 in 200 year standard of protection continues the successful management of the coastline with the main focus between Mablethorpe and Skegness.
Broken seawall following the 1953 storm
What has been created is an artificial coastline which is now sustained through beach nourishment. But people have forgotten what this shoreline looked like previously and this has further (falsely) increased confidence for even more development due to limited understanding of the risks. This is entirely artificial; without annual nouishment there is no beach and without the beach the seawall is vulnerable and so therefore are the nearby communities, businesses and the extensive farmland.
Whilst the current solution delivers a healthy beach and relatively safe environment it is not a sustainable option when considered against climate change and carbon reduction. This paper examines the legacy of an artificial coastline and how it might be adapted for future generations.
