While other areas of public sector spending are being slashed, coastal defences remain a spending priority.  Phil Bishop reports on a sector keeping its head above water.

Coastal defences is only a niche market for civil engineering contractors but so far appears unthreatened by cuts likely to affect other areas of public spending.

A recent reorganisation of responsibilities now sees all the money passed through the Environment Agency (EA) rather than directly to local authorities from Defra. Acting as gatekeeper, the EA determines priorities and either acts as client directly or funds the local authorities, depending on the project.

The EA’s coast defences spending comes from its flood defence budget, which is £700m for 2009-2010, up from £650m last year. Next year, £804m has been allocated, which is more than double the spend in 2004, indicating its priority status.

However, the lion’s share is spent on fluvial projects, preventing rivers from bursting their banks. Phil Wright, managing director of Birse Coastal, the country’s largest specialist sea defences contractor, estimates the annual market for coastal projects is in the region of £100m.

Tough decisions

No one pretends that this is enough to maintain the 3,200km of sea defences along the 6,000km coastline of England and Wales and so, despite the budget increases, tough decisions have to be taken.

Environment Agency coastal policy adviser Nick Hardiman explains: “It is our role to manage the risks to people and the natural environment from both tidal flooding and coastal erosion. We would like to fund more schemes than we do, but for each scheme the benefits have to outweigh the costs by five to one.”

The agency, in concert with local authorities, is reviewing its strategy and producing new Shoreline Management Plans (a process termed SMP2). Each region is being assessed and, with consultation with stakeholders, appropriate measures are being determined. The new plans are scheduled for publication in 2010 for England and 2011 for Wales.

For any location there are four basic options. These are:

• hold the existing line (maintain or improve existing defences).
• advance the existing line (by putting defences out at sea).
• effect a managed retreat (usually move hard defences inland and create marshland or mudflats behind them).
• abandon (no action).

Read the full story by Phil Bishop on the ContractJournal.com website