Coastal erosion in Burnham-On-Sea and Berrow was in the spotlight when the results of a coastal monitoring project were discussed at a meeting this week.
Over 30 local people gathered at Berrow Conservation Group’s meeting on Tuesday evening (October 22nd) where Dr Mark Wiggins from the Plymouth Coastal Laboratory discussed the monitoring project that has been underway since 2007.
Dr Wiggins said the study had found 10-15 metres of horizontal dunes cutback in several areas of the coastline at Berrow since 2007.
He added that sand is being lost at a rate of two square metres a year in several study areas of the beach.
He added: “Sea level rise is definitely real, but the future projections and timescales are unclear. Building up a body of data over many years helps decisions to be made about how to deal with the changes.”
He added that among the potential mitigation solutions are fencing off vulnerable areas of dunes to protect them from erosion, planting vegetation in the dunes, introducing new structures to protect the coastline, and even introducing extra sand to replace lost sand.
Berrow Conservation Group’s Andrea Johnstone says: “It was very interesting to hear from Dr Wiggins on the changes they have observed over recent years – it is clear that the dunes are being cut back.”
“We intend to push for more protection measures along this stretch of coastline to safeguard the dunes and the monitoring continues.”
Further details on the project can be accessed here.
