Project update - February 2026

Shaping Bude’s Coast Together – survey responses

A huge thank you to everybody who completed the survey. This was designed so the project team could better understand what is most important to the community about the coast in Bude, and will be used to shape our future engagement.

Over 250 responses were received – a response rate of 2.8%.

The survey shows a consistent and urgent need for far better communication, education, and public understanding around coastal change and adaptation.

Most respondents felt ill‑informed, uncertain, or unaware of what is happening, despite strong concern about erosion, flooding, and future risks.

A full survey report will be shared in March.

Based on the findings of the survey, it is clear to the project team that we need to be able to work with the community to provide better information about coastal change and adaptation. We have been working on a number of key tools which will help us to have this conversation (see below for updates on the story map and films).

Shaping Bude’s Coast Together – competition winners

Congratulations to the prize winners, who were drawn at random, by the Mayor of Bude, Mike Dawes.

Winners are:

First prize: Megan Ross

Second prize: Pippa John

Third prize: Jill Haines

All prize winners received vouchers for local Bude businesses (Electric Bakery, The Refill Shop and Wild Wood). Megan and Pippa were presented with their vouchers by the Mayor of Bude.

2 Minute Foundation films

Four short films on the following topics are being filmed and will be ready to share in March:

Why the same storms are causing bigger problems?
Is erosion always bad – or is it just misunderstood?
Do sea wall actually make the problem worse?
How we plan for a coastline that won’t stay still.

We can't wait to share these with you very soon!

Maritime Archaeological Trust Story Map

The Maritime Archaeological Trust have been progressing well with their work to bring together all the available evidence about what the coastline in Bude looked like in the past.

The first draft of the tool that they have produced was shared with the Critical Friends group and, once updated with their feedback, will be available to share publicly very soon! We are working with the team at The Castle to see if we can have it on display there, as well as looking at other opportunities to share with the community in Bude Do get in touch if you have some ideas on groups that might be interested (futurecoastbude@cornwall.gov.uk).

Youth Board: a group of residents aged 16-30

18 applications to be part of the Youth Board have been received. All those who applied have been successful in securing a place.

The group will meet for the first time at the beginning of March to find out more about the project, then there will be 2 training weekends.

The first will be led by 2 Minute Foundation and will be based around the films that they have produced. This will help the group feel confident about coastal processes.

The second weekend will be led by Charity ‘Voice’ who will provide training on how to plan and deliver events, data analysis, report writing and how to be an ambassador for a project.

The group will then:

Be paid to help with wider community engagement events that they get involved in.
Help the project reach a younger audience, to ensure the voices of those most impacted by coastal change are represented as part of the project.

Sand recycling and reducing wind-blown sand – Summerleaze car park

Work to move sand from the car park onto the front of the dune is planned to start week commencing 23 March and is likely to take a couple of weeks. Parts of the car park will be fenced off to enable this work to be done safely.

Plans to re-align the path through the dunes have been modified, to take into account the exciting discovery of lizards (a protected species) in the dune. As much work as can be done to reduce the amount of sand blowing onto the car park will still take place, without causing any disturbance to the lizard’s habitat.

Summerleaze Beach urgent health and safety repairs – undertaken by Cornwall Council

Work will be taking place throughout the beginning of March to remove and repair damaged wire baskets that help keep the river in place. This work is being done by Cornwall Council. The longer-term future of these wire baskets at Summerleaze is being considered as part of the project.

More information about this work can be found here: Urgent health and safety repairs.

Beach huts

Beach hut user drop-in sessions were run in February half term and were well attended. These were invitation only events for people who rent a beach hut.

The project team worked with representatives from the Bude Area Tourist Board to talk to the beach hut users about a range of topics. Key learning included:

The diverse reasons why people have a hut - some for the social side, some for the opposite (for peace and quiet) and everything in between!
Most attendees were in favour of future huts being constructed from more durable composite material which would be much lower-maintenance and have a longer life.
Most attendees were not keen to construct their own huts on a plot, but were concerned about the need for maintenance and investment now.
The importance of proximity to the beach and the view are key - potential sites for beach huts further from the sea were not popular.

Overall, all attendees were in agreement that the Beach Huts are a vital part of the character of Bude’s beaches and should be part of any investment and planning for the future of Bude’s coastline.

Work to repair the damaged boardwalk with beach huts on at Summerleaze is expected to be undertaken in March.

Work with Cormac

Cormac, part of Cornwall Council, is continuing work to look at what would be required to relocated public assets away from vulnerable locations at the coast. A drone survey has been undertaken to better understand which parts of the cliffs are most vulnerable, and ground investigation works are planned to understand more about future locations for the coast path and future parking options.

Cormac are currently working to try and determine what work will require planning permission and what work could be delivered within the time frame of the project (before April 2027).

Categories: Monthly updates