Coastal management

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Coastal strategies and schemes

Coastal Partnership East Newsletters

Stay safe on our coast
We have many miles of beautiful coastline to explore and enjoy but it is also some of the fastest eroding coast in western Europe. We urgently need your help to make sure that everyone stays safe when they visit the beach. Please: Do stay away from the cliffs, they can be very unstable even if they look safe. It is extremely dangerous to walk close to cliffs or to climb them. Do take notice of any signs warning you of hazards, these have been put in place to help keep you and your loved ones safe. Do take notice of the tides. Some areas of beach along our coast are not as wide as they used to be and at high tide it is not possible to walk along them without walking close to the cliffs. This could be very dangerous if the cliff is unstable, even though it may look safe. This can be easily seen in places such as Pakefield, particularly close to the caravan park. Don’t walk on any defences which may have been placed on the beach. Not only is it dangerous to do so, you are damaging something which is there to help protect the local community from erosion. Do follow any diversion signs that help you navigate your walk onto safe paths and areas until you have passed any hazards Do enjoy our wonderful coast and all that it has to offer but do visit safely, stay safe and go home safe. If you have any questions or notice something about our defences or cliffs that you think we should know about then email coastalmanagement@eastsuffolk.gov.uk

Stay safe on our coast

We have many miles of beautiful coastline to explore and enjoy but it is also some of the fastest eroding coast in western Europe. We urgently need your help to make sure that everyone stays safe when they visit the beach.

Please:

Do stay away from the cliffs, they can be very unstable even if they look safe. It is extremely dangerous to walk close to cliffs or to climb them.
Do take notice of any signs warning you of hazards, these have been put in place to help keep you and your loved ones safe.
Do take notice of the tides. Some areas of beach along our coast are not as wide as they used to be and at high tide it is not possible to walk along them without walking close to the cliffs. This could be very dangerous if the cliff is unstable, even though it may look safe. This can be easily seen in places such as Pakefield, particularly close to the caravan park.
Don’t walk on any defences which may have been placed on the beach. Not only is it dangerous to do so, you are damaging something which is there to help protect the local community from erosion.
Do follow any diversion signs that help you navigate your walk onto safe paths and areas until you have passed any hazards

Do enjoy our wonderful coast and all that it has to offer but do visit safely, stay safe and go home safe.

If you have any questions or notice something about our defences or cliffs that you think we should know about then email coastalmanagement@eastsuffolk.gov.uk

The Suffolk coast is approximately 49 miles (79km) long and runs from Corton on the Norfolk/Suffolk border to Landguard Point in Felixstowe. There is also a further 83 miles (134km) of tidal edge within the Blyth, Alde and Ore, Deben and Orwell estuaries that lie within our district.

Responsibility for managing this coastline is split between the Environment Agency (for areas at risk of flooding), private ownership and the Maritime Planning Authorities (for areas at risk from erosion) which, for Suffolk, falls to our Coastal Management Team.

You can see how the responsibility for the Suffolk coastline is broken down on our Coastal Management responsibility map. For clarity on which organisation does what on a coast frontage please refer to our Service Area Responsibilities diagram which explains who should be contacted depending the issue.

We are directly responsible for 22 miles (36km) of the Suffolk coastline and have permissive powers (not duties) to carry out works over parts of this frontage to manage the risk of erosion. Currently there are hard defences (plus over 300 groynes) covering 12 miles (19.4km) of coast.

History of the Suffolk Coast

Coastal management can be broadly broken down into three sections:

East Suffolk Council