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Partners Terms of Reference Board Members Board Minutes Working Group Task Groups Forum Sefton Coast Management Plan Forum 2003 Forum 2004 Forum 2005 Forum 2006 Forum 2007 Workshops Access and Interpretation Research and Management History Shoreline Management

Sefton Coast Forum 2003 Shoreline Management Workshop Original Brief As part of Shoreline Management we need to improve our understanding of coastal processes, at a local level this involves monitoring of a number of parameters such as sediment size, foredune movement and beach gradient. In the past methods of communicating this data and analysing it have been limited but with the increase in power of computers our options have increased dramatically. The question is as we use these new methods, are we communicating or confusing? What I would like to explore in this workshop is how to communicate information on coastal processes, with particular reference to communicating with the public and elected members. What would you like to know, what methods inform rather than confuse and how can we ensure that people have confidence in the data being presented? On the Day I was ambitious in how much I thought we could cover in an hour and we only managed to cover the first question in any depth. In order to take this forward I have undertaken to send a summary of the workshop to participants to check that my interpretation is correct and so that we can attempt to answer the other questions. Below is listed the main areas that were identified to be addressed and my interpretation of what workshop participants were saying. Human Activity What is the effect of human activity on the form of the coast? This included micro effects such as access and car parking through to long term regional aspects such as Sellafield. Effect of: Coastal defence structures - including Ribble training wall Access - including Car Parking Aggregate extraction - including Sandwinning Windfarms Dredging Sellafield Climate Change What is going to be the effect of climate change and over what time period? Look at different scenarios (10, 20, 50 years). Put into context, ie what has been the historical development, changes on the coast. Update on latest research. Natural Processes Look at both offshore and onshore processes and look at the area in a more regional context. Look in more detail at certain aspects such as the Ribble and Mersey estuaries, sand dunes, salt-marsh and the beach. Report by area There was a request to report by area so that residents could go straight to the area of interest to them. An initial split was suggested as: Marshside Southport and Birkdale Ainsdale through to the River Alt River Alt to the Docks Research and Studies This section would look at what has been done, what is being done and what it is proposed to do that would be of relevance to Sefton coast. To include regional studies where of relevance or interest. Having looked at the above I would suggest two other sections as follows: Explanatory Notes I feel it would be useful to have a section explaining coastal processes from first principles as a reference section for those not familiar with them. For example, a couple of sides of text and some diagrams to explain how dunes form. Glossary Whilst I would hope to avoid jargon there are technical terms that it would be useful to use, but in that instance I would try to make sure that they were defined in this section. This completes the summary of this workshop at this point in time, I will be following up the other questions with the participants by letter. I will not be able to implement this in one go but you should be able to see improvements in how I present coastal process data over the next couple of years. Workshop Leader Graham Lymbery Home Page - Top www.seftoncoast.org.uk

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