Weymouth & Portland Field Trip, September 2019

The 2019 SCOPAC field trip took members and officers to Weymouth & Portland in Dorset to view the local coastal management issues and solutions.

Approximately 25 delegates attended the event, which commenced with a visit to Bowleaze Cove in Weymouth Bay to understand the challenges faced along this section of complex cliff landscape. This was followed by a brief talk from Neil Watson of the Environment Agency on the historic landfill site at Lodmoor.

Next was an opportunity to view the site for the new Beach Management Plan at Weymouth and take a walk around the historic harbour and the peninsula. Matthew Penny, Sean Norsworthy and Peter Christie of the Dorset Council and Neil Watson gave interesting talks on the aging harbour walls and the challenges faced with replacement.

A lunch-stop at Portland Heights offered a fantastic view along Chesil Beach and the Fleet, after which Sam Scriven from the Jurassic Coast Trust gave us an insightful talk on the management of the World Heritage Site and interactions with coastal protection in this area.

We then visited Chiswell, where Neil Watson gave a talk on the current EA flood defence scheme and Matthew Penny talked about the wider stability problems faced at Chesil Cove and the current phase of ground investigation works.

SCOPAC would like to thank the speakers for their excellent talks, in particular, Neil Watson and Matthew Penny for organising the event.