Unstable soft rock cliffs · hard engineering approach · sea wall reconstruction · Jurassic Coast UNESCO site.
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Key facts — from Seaford 2025–27 case study notes
Why management was needed
Lyme Regis is a small coastal town on the south coast of England at the western edge of the Dorset coast (Jurassic Coast)
Sits on unstable, soft rock cliffs — clay on top of limestone, making cliffs prone to slippage and collapse
Coastline erodes rapidly due to powerful south-westerly waves
Sea walls have been breached and the foreshore has eroded
The town has high economic value — tourism, heritage, residential — justifying expensive hard engineering
Hard engineering strategy
New sea walls constructed to protect the base of the cliffs
Rock armour (rip-rap) placed at the base of the cliffs to absorb wave energy
Cliff drainage installed to reduce water pressure and instability
Beach replenishment to rebuild the protective beach in front of the sea wall
Strategy chosen because the high value of the town justifies the expense
Comparison with Medmerry
Lyme Regis uses hard engineering — fighting natural processes
Medmerry uses managed retreat (soft engineering) — working with natural processes
Lyme Regis is justified because land value is high (town, tourism, heritage)
Medmerry was used because land value was low (farmland, caravan parks)
Hard engineering is more expensive and requires ongoing maintenance
Exam questions — 2 questions · 10 marks
⚡ Geography exam tip: Always use named examples with specific data. "An earthquake in Nepal" scores fewer marks than "The 2015 Nepal earthquake (magnitude 7.9, 9,000 deaths)." Learn the statistics on this page.
1 markWhy hard engineering
Why was hard engineering chosen for Lyme Regis rather than managed retreat?
A Hard engineering is always more sustainable than managed retreat
B The high economic and heritage value of the town justified the expensive hard engineering approach
C The soft rock cliffs made hard engineering easier to install
D There was no beach to use for replenishment
6 marksCompare Lyme Regis and Medmerry
Compare the coastal management strategies used at Lyme Regis and Medmerry. Explain why different strategies were chosen. (6 marks)
Hint: Compare the two strategies directly — type of engineering, why each was chosen, cost-value relationship, sustainability. Use specific details from both case studies.