Final Report to DEFRA - Jurassic Coast

• Far from being a ‘soft’ alternative to engineering solutions to coastal change,
Pathfinder has thus proven to be a very practical and pragmatic approach which,
for modest cost in the short-term, could deliver significant benefits, opportunities
and financial savings in the long-term.
Recommendations
• Public bodies need to ‘get out more’ to understand the issues facing coastal
communities. They also need to invest in the skills to engage with communities,
and be prepared to resource this accordingly. The costs are modest but the
dividends potentially huge and not restricted to coastal change.
• The strategies and action plans being developed to take forward high level
policies set out in SMP2 need to apply the lessons from Pathfinder in terms of
community engagement now - they can not wait for SMP3.
• The Government’s coastal policy framework needs to give a clear and consistent
policy steer, with DEFRA policies, DCLG’s planning framework and EA’s coastal
overview all being closely aligned to ensure a long-term approach to the
sustainable management of coastal change.
• Critically, Government funding streams need to be reviewed to ensure that they
support and deliver this policy steer. There are concerns that the proposed
framework for funding coastal defence could lead to more unsustainable
engineering schemes being funded, rather than ensuring that scarce public
resources are deployed to support sustainable adaptation.
• 20, 50 and 100 year risk information arising from the National Coastal Erosion
Mapping exercise should be made publicly available, readily digestible and easily
understood, preferably in simple map form showing the extent of possible erosion
risk with appropriate caveats and explanations forming an integral part of their
presentation.
• In the short-term, Government should consider a modest, targeted extension of
Pathfinder to put the best ideas developed in the research/engagement phases of
existing Pathfinder projects into practice.
• In the medium-term, an increasing proportion of the national budget for coastal
defence should be ring-fenced to support the implementation of adaptation
actions.
• At some point adaptation should be able to compete for funding on a level playing
field with conventional coastal defence schemes, though this is likely to require a
fundamental review of how costs and benefits are assessed, informed by the
logic of the Natural Environment White Paper.
• The emerging National Planning Policy Framework should emphasise the
importance of (i) adaptation to coastal change (ii) effective stakeholder dialogue.
• Government should reflect on the experience of Pathfinder education projects
with a view to ensuring that future generations are equipped with the knowledge
and skills required to tackle issues arising from future environmental change.
Acknowledgement
The Project Team would like to record its sincere thanks to the communities of the
Jurassic Coast who took part in the Pathfinder project and in particular the members
of the project Steering Group for their help, advice and support.
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