What would be your proposal and why?

What are the arguments for and against protecting the village from the future flooding?

Before deciding investigate the following different viewpoints.

Viewpoint 1

My house is a long away from the sea and the cliffs. My house is at low risk of future flooding. It would be better to spend the money on building new houses and shops further away from the beach.

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Viewpoint 2

My house has been flooded once. We need to protect the village from future flooding and it should be done immediately.

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Viewpoint 3

My land is far away from the sea. We cannot prevent climate change. Sea levels will rise and wetter, stormier winters will increase the risk of flooding.

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Viewpoint 4

We need to protect our village from flooding or no visitors will come to my caravan park. The tourist industry is a very important in the village.

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Viewpoint 5

My cafe and shop is very close to the sea front. My livelihood will disappear if nothing will be done soon to protect the village from future flooding.

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Viewpoint 6

We cannot avoid climate change and rising sea levels. Creating a new reef using rocks from Norway is too expensive and not sustainable. It would also destroy the beautiful view from the village.

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For

Against

Option 1 Option 2 Option 3

Do nothing. Leave nature take its course.

Maintain existing sea defences (wooden groynes, sand dunes, sea wall and wooden breakwates).

Replace existing sea defences (wooden groynes, sand dunes, sea wall and wooden breakwaters) using the same materials.

Replace some of the existing sea defences (groynes and breakwaters) using different materials, e.g. rock groynes and breakwaters).

Build a new and larger concrete sea defence wall in the same location in the village and add beach nourishment - place sand and shingle on beach (e.g. 25,000 tones of shingle and 15,000 tones of sand) to increase width. This will protect the beach and the village from the waves. Why? Waves will break further offshore and they will have less energy to erode the beach.

Build a new multi-purpose reef near the cliffs. This will create a wider inshore beach. This will also act to focus and shape waves. This will also improve surfing conditions. The surfer will have a larger controlled ride.