Public consultation for Sidmouth beach plan

Sidmouth's Beach Management Plan project team are holding a drop-in session at Sidmouth Sailing club next Thursday, 6 March, from 3pm to 7pm.

The public are invited to drop in at any time between 3pm and 6.30pm to learn more about the initiative, to give their views and provide local knowledge and information so the project team is properly informed.

The aims of the EDDC-sponsored project are to make sure Sidmouth's sea defences are performing as expected and to consider what needs to be done to reduce the rate of erosion at East Beach.

Before the project team can consider beach management options to meet the aims, it needs to understand the natural coastal processes, human interventions and nature's response to them that have shaped Sidmouth's coast line over past generations. In particular they need to establish historical rates of erosion.

Councillor Andrew Moulding, Chairman of the project steering group, said: “The project team is researching all this but many don't live in Sidmouth so they won't know Sidmouth's cliffs, beaches, inshore currents, bathemetry and erosion history anything like as well as the people who have lived here for generations or even just a few years. So, if you have any information or local knowledge that will help them understand, please let them know at the drop-in session”.

The type of information you may be able to provide at this time includes:

• Videos, photographs, paintings, drawings, postcards, newspaper articles, books, maps, plans, reports and so on that show or describe the coast and how the coast looked in the past to aid their understanding of how and why the coast has changed over the generations.

• Information about the impacts of storm events on the beaches, cliffs, coastal defences. For example, did a storm event cause noticeable erosion of the beaches or the cliff? If so, when did the storm occur and where was the erosion?

• Information and your views on issues, opportunities and constraints relating to the beaches, cliffs and coastal defences that this project may need to take into account.

Andrew Moulding added: “At this stage the project team would like to know what you think about the aims of the project and if there are any issues, opportunities or hurdles you think they should take into account.

“Later, at Stage 4 of the project, the public will be given the opportunity to comment on a short list of options for meeting the aims”.