Planning for the future by understanding the current picture

We know that the coast has changed in the past and that it will continue to change in the future. Erosion of the cliffs will continue to take place – in some places more quickly than others. And as sea levels rise, our beaches and facilities near the coast, will become under increasing pressure.

In Bude, there are a number of public owned building and amenities which will not be able to be kept in their existing location in the future. As part of the Future Coast Bude project, we are looking at what it would take to move or adapt some of these things in the future. To be able to understand how this can happen, we need to first gather data about what the current situation is.

To do this, the project has commissioned:

• A drone survey of the cliffs, from Maer Cliff down to Mentones. This will give us visual information about the stability of the cliff. This is particularly important for understanding which parts of the coast path might need to be moved.

• Ground Investigation surveys and Cliff Stability surveys, to help the project plan for which parts of the cliffs will be most vulnerable to cliff falls. This will also be very useful for future plans for the route of the coast path.
• A drone survey, Topography survey and ‘Ground penetrating radar’ survey of the current overflow car park at Crooklets. This will allow plans to be made so that the capacity of the car park can be increased. This means that as increased pressure is put on the Crooklets car park, beachside car parking is still available.
• Ecology surveys, which will allow the project to have a clear idea of what the habitat is and what species are present in different locations along the coast. This will help inform decisions about where things like the toilet blocks could be moved to in the future.

By gathering this data now, this information can be fed into our Community Conversation events, which will be happening in April and May. This information can be used to help inform the community’s plan for the Coastal Vision – setting the direction of travel for the coast in Bude in the future.