Coast and sea defences

The sea is why people came here, and the coastline needs looking after to stay that way. Groynes, a sea wall and rock armour hold the shingle in place along this stretch, and they need regular maintenance to keep doing their job.

Responsibility for coastal protection sits with Arun District Council and the Environment Agency, not with us. The Association keeps a close watch and makes itself useful, and the relationship with both is a good one.

Early morning sun over a calm sea, with lines of timber groyne posts running out from the shingle beach and the rooftops of the estate on the skyline — The groyne field from the western end of the Greensward, early on an August morning. Without them the shingle would travel steadily east and the sea would be a good deal closer to the houses.

The Coastal Sub-Committee

Formed in 2000 to monitor erosion and to keep the authorities in conversation about the sea defences. It has three jobs:

Represent members, particularly those living on or immediately behind the sea front.
Protect the safety and enjoyment of everyone using the Greensward and the County Council footpath running west from Sea Lane.
Preserve the Greensward itself, which is a Site of Nature Conservation Importance.

We work closely with the relevant authorities rather than at arm’s length from them, and the relationship is a good one. It has taken years to build and it is worth protecting.

A tracked crane working on the beach placing rock armour beside a timber groyne — Coastal works in progress on the foreshore.

The marker posts

At the seaward end of the groynes there are slim posts carrying a shape on top. The post is a marker post and the shape is its topmark, which is the term for anything fixed to the head of a post or buoy to make it recognisable from a distance.

They are there for one reason, and it is worth knowing if you swim, paddle or take a boat out here.

At low water a groyne is obvious. It is a line of timber posts running down the beach and you would have to work hard to hit one. At high water it disappears completely, and a swimmer, a paddleboarder or a small boat can be directly over a solid structure without any sign of it. The marker posts stay above the water when the groyne does not, and show where it ends.

So if you are in the water, treat a marker post as the end of something hard rather than as decoration.

A timber groyne running out into a calm sea, with a slim marker post at its seaward end carrying a topmark, and a dark bird perched on top of it — The topmark at the end of one of the groynes, with a cormorant using it as a perch. At high water the whole structure below it is invisible.

What has been done

Arun District Council has carried out the following work on our defences and foreshore. We are grateful for it, and for being kept informed throughout.

Year	Work
2019	Groyne 155 by Old Point had been heavily loaded and the driven members separated from the structure. Emergency underpinning carried out.
2018	Enhanced repair phase: 12m³ of tropical hardwood installed to replace failing softwood. Ad-hoc sea wall repairs including the fatiguing expansion joints.
2017	General repair and maintenance, including geotextile shingle containers, used in place of gabion baskets because gabions leave sharp debris when they fail.
2016	Repairs to the timber groyne field by Sea Way, and to part of the Old Point sea wall cover slab.
2015	After successive storms the metal piles retaining the head of groyne 155 broke free. Piles re-seated and the groyne rebuilt.
2014	Extensive softwood repairs to groynes and breastwork. The wall retaining the Old Point access steps failed and was recast in situ. Patch plates welded to the sheet pile toe to reduce undermining of the sea wall.