Economic losses can be significant due to coastal recession

Social losses

• loss of housing

• Cost of moving

• Stress

• Loss of jobs

• Insurance costs

• Effect on education

Economic losses

• cost of repairing and replacing infrastructure

• Businesses shutting down

• Reduction in tourism

• Transport effect

Environmental losses

• disruption of coastal ecosystem

• Damage / loss of sand dunes, salt marshes and depositional landforms

Tangible costs

measurable costs e.g. property costs

Intangible costs

difficult to quantify e.g. cost of sentimental items

Devon - February 2014

• A section of south Devon main line railway was lost due to erosion

• Repairing it took £35 million

• Estimates of costs to businesses in the South West of £60 million -£1.2 billion

UK environmental agency

• estimates that 7000 properties in England and Wales worth over £1.2 billion would be lost

• 800 lost to coastal erosion by 2035

• without adaptation global costs would rise $1 trillion

• global loss of GDP between 0.3% and 9.3% per year prompting recession

Losses to erosion are usually localised

• Erosion is usually incremental

• Property at risk loses its value

• Areas of high density populations tend to have more coastal defences

Holbeck Hall Scarborough 1993

• major rotational landslide of 1 million tons of glacial till

• 70m of cliff recession

• Debris extended out 135m beyond original cliff

• Heavy rainfall of 140m in 2 months contributed due to pore water pressure rapidly increasing

• Hotel lost their claim as they tried to sue Scarborough council

What happens to property at an eroding coast ?

• Uk property insurance does not cover coastal erosion

• property value falls as date of loss approaches

• Inability to sell property

• Loss of their major asset

There is very little help apart from coastal pathfinder projects such as DEFRA