East Riding Coastal Monitoring Programme

Programme Aims

"A strategic regional coastal monitoring programme for the East Riding of Yorkshire, to provide freely available data of consistently high quality to inform coastal management and future strategy".

Monitoring of cliff erosion along the East Riding coastline first began in 1951 with the establishment of marker posts at various centres between Sewerby and Kilnsea, tape measurements being taken from these posts to the cliff edge to record erosion losses. From these humble beginnings the programme developed as survey techniques improved and the need for accurate and reliable data grew. The East Riding of Yorkshire now has an extensive integrated survey programme that relies heavily upon LiDAR and aerial image data collected every six months over the entire 85km coastline between the Bempton and Spurn Point. The programme is currently funded for six years until March 2027, but with an expectation that the programme will continue indefinitely. It is 100% grant aided by the Environment Agency. The programme has been designed in a very similar format to that formulated for the South East Strategic Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme.

The primary objectives of the monitoring programme are:

1. To monitor ongoing coastal erosion and assist coastal managers as that liaise with those communities that may be affected by cliff erosion
2. To assist in the definition of the magnitude of risks of coastal flooding and to provide data to support re-evaluation of those risks in the future.
3. To improve understanding of coastal process behaviour at the shoreline and out to 2km offshore and assess how those processes interact with the defended and open frontages.
4. To assist coastal managers by providing them with relevant information on which to make sustainable future shoreline management decisions.

The programme will maintain close links and look to collaborate with adjacent authorities that are within Cell 2 when undertaking any monitoring activities.

Analysis and data collected under the monitoring programme will be made freely available; this is expected to be useful to local residents or those looking to relocate to the East Riding, the Environment Agency, consultants in coastal defence, conservation management, academic research and for educational purposes.

A specialist team has been established at East Riding of Yorkshire Council to manage the programme and develop the data analysis, storage and dissemination procedures. All data collected by the programme and analysis reports will be made available via this website, and the Council's own website www.eastriding.gov.uk/coastalexplorer.