Coastal defence—current UK practice

Coastal defence is a composite term covering both coast protection and sea defence, with these activities now being actively managed by the various authorities involved, to comply with the Government's policy to ‘reduce the risks to people and the developed and natural environment from flooding and coastal erosion by encouraging the provision of technically, environmentally and economically sound and sustainable defence measures’. This paper shows how the various authorities actively involved in the overall management of the coastline have increasingly worked together to achieve this strategic policy requirement.