East Suffolk Council

Resilient Coasts

What is Resilient Coasts?

• Resilient Coasts is one of 25 projects funded by Defra as part of the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programmes which is managed by the Environment Agency. The programmes will drive innovation in flood and coastal resilience and adaptation to a changing climate.
• The project will be completed in 2027 and is being led by East Suffolk Council in partnership with Great Yarmouth Borough Council.
• The aim of the project is to explore innovative solutions to help coastal communities across Norfolk and Suffolk become more resilient to coastal change.
• This means investigating, trialling and evaluating potential longer-term coastal management solutions. The evidence gathered through this six-year programme will inform future approaches to, and investment in, national flood and coastal risk management.
• The project funding cannot be spent on traditional coastal defence schemes such as rock armour, as these are currently progressed through Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Grant in Aid applications.

What is Resilient Coasts doing?

• Using the latest LiDAR drone, photogrammetry and ground mapping technology, Resilient Coasts can map what is at risk across the frontage and produce maps that can demonstrate coastal change to communities and support coastal management decisions.
• We are investigating options to attract new funding sources to invest in the coast and exploring different ways to assign value to the coast.
• We will engage with communities to help them plan for the future by understanding their risk and preparing to adapt to a changing coast.
• We are investigating the possibility of infrastructure providers (e.g. Highways, gas, electricity, telecoms and water companies) helping to fund resilience projects where their own assets may be at risk.
• We are gathering evidence and developing new approaches to influence policy to help enable adaptation and community resilience in future coastal planning.
• We are exploring more sustainable ways of managing our coastal assets to help plan future approaches on a changing coast.

Mapping Risks and Assets 

Using the latest LiDAR drone, photogrammetry and ground mapping technology, Resilient Coasts can map what is at risk across the frontage and produce maps that can demonstrate coastal change to communities and support coastal management decisions.  

This will inform planning and development decisions and include: 

• New coastal erosion and flood risk data including NCERM2 and NaFRA2 
• SMP policies 
• Location of property and infrastructure 
• Social and economic information 
• Planning policies 
• Land available for relocation, roll back, and nature-based solutions.  

The maps will form the basis of future decision making and support more integrated policy ambitions at community, local and central government levels. 

In summary, partner authorities will be better placed to understand our coast and plan together for the future. 

Adaptation Funding and Finance Mechanism 

We are investigating options to attract new funding sources to invest in the coast and exploring different ways to assign value to the coast. 

Circular Sediment Economy Simulator 

This software will increase our knowledge of how our coastal system function. This will enable us to forecast and assess management options and place a value on sediment cells and how they move along our coast.  

For example, the project is looking to understand if the sediment from a place experiencing high rates of erosion is accruing elsewhere on the frontage and creating a wide beach. In this example one place is losing out to the benefit of another. The aim is to investigate if this can be factored into the funding calculator to unlock funds for places that need protection. 

New Economic Approach 

We are investigating a new approach to help with the development of business cases for local and regional coastal management schemes. We are exploring alternative ways of valuing a place which could include how infrastructure and economies at the coast benefits communities further inland.  

For example, if a gas terminal was at risk, this would have impacts to national energy production and supply. The New Economic Approach is exploring ways of incorporating benefits like these into eligibility for funding.  

Engaging Our Way to Resilience 

We will engage with communities to help them plan for the future by understanding their risk and preparing to adapt to a changing coast.   

We will identify the readiness of communities to adapt to change using a proven approach developed by the Environment Agency. This will be completed alongside a framework developed within the project for those communities who are actively experiencing erosion. 

Integrated Infrastructure Investment Plan 

We are investigating the possibility of infrastructure providers (e.g. Highways, gas, electricity, telecoms and water companies) helping to fund resilience projects where their own assets may be at risk.

Planning for Resilience 

We are exploring approaches that will enable us to work with communities to plan for adaptation and resilience.   

We will use the data and recommendations from our other work strands to develop these approaches.  

Policy Change 

We are gathering evidence and developing new approaches to influence policy to help enable adaptation and community resilience in future coastal planning. 

Asset Management 

We are exploring more sustainable ways of managing our coastal assets to help plan future approaches on a changing coast.