Measure 11: Shoreline Management Plan Policy Delivery in Wales
Measure 11 provides a national assessment of how Shoreline Management Plan policies were delivered across the Welsh coast during Epoch 1, covering 2005 to 2025. Its findings establish an evidence baseline for Epoch 2, covering 2025 to 2055, and will help inform future investment, coastal adaptation and collaborative action.
What is Measure 11?
Shoreline Management Plans set a long-term strategic approach for managing coastal flooding and erosion. They divide the coastline into Policy Units and identify an intended management approach for each unit over three planning periods, known as Epochs.
Measure 11 is part of the National Strategy for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management in Wales. It required Coastal Groups, through the Wales Coastal Group Forum, to report on whether the policies for Epoch 1 had been delivered or were actively being implemented by 2025.
The assessment covers all four Shoreline Management Plans that include the Welsh coastline and provides a national picture of delivery, barriers and priorities as Wales moves into Epoch 2.
Measure 11 at a glance
473
Policy Units assessed
1,914 km
of Coastline covered
90.1%
overall compliance
47
non-compliant Policy Units
What 'Compliance' means?
For this report, a Policy Unit is recorded as compliant where its Epoch 1 Shoreline Management Plan policy has been delivered or is actively being implemented, based on the best available information supplied by Coastal Group members.
Compliance is a measure of whether the intended Shoreline Management Plan policy has been delivered. It is not a direct measure of coastal risk, asset condition, community resilience or long-term sustainability. A policy may be compliant whilst still facing future challenges associated with climate change, asset deterioration, funding constraints or changing risk levels. Conversely, a No Active Intervention policy may be fully compliant because no intervention was required.
National Shoreline Management Plan Delivery
Map of Wales showing SMP Epoch 1 compliance by Policy Units.
Policy Units are small sections of coastline within an SMP that share similar coastal processes and risk characteristics, managed under a specific policy.
Delivery by policy type
Hold the
Line
by maintaining or changing the existing standard of protection
98.2%
Compliance
Managed Realignment
allowing the shoreline to move backwards and forwards with management to control or limit movement
44.4%
Compliance
No Active Intervention
where there is no investment in coastal defences and natural processes are allowed to continue to create an evolving coastline
98.3%
Compliance
What the findings mean
Wales achieved a high overall level of Shoreline Management Plan policy delivery during Epoch 1, with 90.1% of Policy Units assessed as compliant. However, this reflects delivery of policy intent rather than a measure of reduced coastal risk or long-term resilience. Hold the Line and No Active Intervention policies show near-complete implementation.
The main delivery gap is Managed Realignment. The 44.4% compliance rate indicates that more than half of Managed Realignment policies identified for Epoch 1 were not delivered during the period. While this reflects the recognised complexity of implementing adaptation-focused policies, it highlights an important challenge for future shoreline management. Managed Realignment is expected to play an increasingly significant role in future epochs and continued barriers to delivery could limit the ability to transition towards the long-term approaches set out in Shoreline Management Plans.
This matters because the balance of Shoreline Management Plan policy changes over time. Hold the Line reduces from 223 Policy Units in Epoch 1 to 168 in Epoch 2 and 131 in Epoch 3. Managed Realignment increases from 72 to 110 and then 127 Policy Units, while No Active Intervention increases from 178 to 195 and then 214.
Addressing the barriers to adaptation early in Epoch 2 will be important if Wales is to maintain alignment with Shoreline Management Plan policy intent and avoid short-term, reactive decisions. As the number of Managed Realignment policies increases in future epochs, successful adaptation will increasingly depend on overcoming constraints related to land, funding, infrastructure and partnership working.
Key barriers to delivery
Although non‑compliance is concentrated in a minority of locations, the barriers are systemic and recurring and are particularly prominent for Managed Realignment. The priority constraints reported in Measure 11 are:
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Resource and Capacity Constraints
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Funding Constraints and Partnership Working Complexity
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Land Ownership
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Infrastructure and Access Dependencies
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Unknown Asset Ownership
What happens next?
The recommendations emerging from Measure 11 will be discussed by the Wales Coastal Group Forum and are intended to inform its ongoing and future workplan. They will be considered against national and regional priorities, available resources and capacity, and may therefore change.