Source/Archive record SCH6415 - North West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment (NWRCZA): Updated Phase 1 Executive Summary

Between August 2007 and September 2009 Archaeological Research Services Ltd carried out, on behalf of English Heritage, a desk based rapid coastal zone assessment of the threat posed to heritage assets on the North West coast by rising sea level and consequential coastal erosion. The North West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment, or NWRCZA, is one of a series of projects initiated by English Heritage around the coasts of England. The brief specifically required that the assessment be undertaken with reference to Defra’s Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs). The area assessed, which extends from the Anglo- Welsh border in the Dee Estuary to the Anglo-Scottish border in the Solway Firth, falls within SMP Cell 11. At the time of writing the Phase 1 report the policy units and policy statements for SMP2 were only at a draft stage. The first phase of the SMPs was completed in the 1990s (SMP1) and the second phase study (SMP2) is currently being prepared for final publication. The policy areas and policy statements for SMP2 were finalised and published in December 2010 and have been used to compile this updated executive summary. The policy statements usually comprise either Hold The Line (HTL) or No Active Intervention (NAI), although Managed Realignment (MR) is also an option. HTL involves various mitigation strategies such as the construction of sea defences while NAI allows nature to take its course. Heritage assets may be considered to be under threat from mitigation strategies associated with HTL or MR and from coastal erosion where NAI is the adopted policy.