Local Economic Change and Regeneration in Felixstowe Following the 2012 Coastal Resilience Project – A Case Study

How can investing in flood and coastal resilience provide the catalyst for economic and social regeneration – and can the outcomes be measured? This paper will review and summarise the findings of a 2018 joint study conducted by Mott MacDonald and Coastal Partnership East (a group of UK local Authorities) that has sought to identify of the role of a 2011 FCERM project in the town’s subsequent regeneration. This paper is a review of pre-construction benefits of a local authority lead coastal erosion scheme in Felixstowe, which are then recalculated based on post-scheme benefits realised and then compared. Based on the study’s findings, the paper will make recommendations for how the results can be transferred to other coastal resilience projects to strengthen the case for investment.