Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly SMP1
The first round of SMP’s covering Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly were carried out in the late 1990s. At the time of the original SMP studies, the Government guidance suggested that SMP’s should be reviewed and, if necessary, updated approximately every 5 years. It is now nine years since the completion of all the SMP’s for this region.

There were 3 initial SMP's (SMP1) covering the coastline of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly;

South Cornwall, (Rames Head to Lizard Point (click to view)

North Cornwall, (Lands End to Hartland Point) (click to view)

The Isles of Scilly (click to view)

Lizard to Lands End (click to view)

Each of these documents outlined the most appropriate action for their stretch of coastline.

In each plan, to facilitate easier reference to information and assessment of issues, the coastline was divided into a number of lengths, termed ' Areas'. In providing this sub-division an initial assessment of the likely processes was carried out to ensure that any given 'Area', had a single specific physical characteristic.

A further division of these areas into 'Units' based upon coastal processes and coastal usage was made. This enabled strategic coastal defence policies to be developed which take account of the interactions of any processes, e.g. sediment supply, transport and deposition mechanisms, and the demands from the natural and developed environments.

For each Unit, one of the following strategic coastal defence options was decided upon, based on clear guidance;

Do-nothing

Retreat the existing line

Hold the existing line

Advance the existing line

These strategic policy options were all collated, together with the pintail background information and research to form the SMP.

The Local Authorities adopted these plans and subsequent coastal defence decisions have followed these policies.

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Background to the SMP2 >>