CASE STUDY
ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNITY RESPONSES AND REACTIONS TO
SERIOUS COASTAL EROSION AND FLOODING IN JANUARY 2005
ABSTRACT:
A hurricane-level storm struck the west coast of the Outer Hebrides in January 2005.
Serious coastal damage and loss of life occurred as a consequence of flooding and erosion.
Various community, local authority and government agency responses occurred quickly. In
September 2006, a series of structural interviews were made to assess how these
responses had developed and what actions had been put in place. Three groups were
recognized: local inhabitants; professional agencies; and local council officials.
LOCATION:
The Atlantic coast of the Uists and Benbecula (Outer Hebrides), Scotland
KEYWORDS:
Coastal erosion; Machair; Community Consultation and Response; Coastal Protection;
Flooding
AUTHOR:
Professor William Ritchie/Lynda Kingham
Aberdeen Institute for Coastal Science & Management (AICSM)
Telephone: +44 (0) 1224 27 2884
Email address: l.kingham@abdn.ac.uk
1 of 1
CoPraNet
Project part-funded by the European Union
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Assessment of Community Responses and Reactions in September 2006
Methodology
1.
Review of documentation, including:(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
2.
Structured interviews with representatives of five response groups:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
3.
Files prepared by COREPOINT study of ICZM opportunities in the Outer Hebrides
Reports from Scottish Natural Heritage
Academic presentations
Reports by the Western Isles Council.
Scientific and Technical Experts
Political Representatives (Note: not achieved in September 2006)
Community Leaders
National Agencies
Individual residents
Investigation Questions (General)
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
Do you believe the managerieal response has been adequate?
Do you feel that appropriate steps have been taken to prevent a similar occurrence?
What additional information/research would be helpful?
Is a CZM approach seen to be helpful?
How does this extreme event relate to wider coastal zone managerial issues?
THE STORM
Hurricane force winds set-up severe, destructive wave action in January 2005. Coming from the
open Atlantic Ocean, there was no mitigation of the resulting waves, other than the shallow sea bed
to the west of the islands. The machair (a type of mature sand dune system) that has been eroding
for at least the last hundred years, crumbled extensively, especially on the islands of Benbecula and
South Uist. Some property damage occurred due to high wind speeds. Combined with a high tide,
extensive flooding of low coastal areas occurred, especially the open "ford" (a tidal opening between
Benbecula and South Uist, which reach through the island chain to connect the Atlantic Ocean with
the Sea of the Hebrides (Minch). As is normal, naturally constricted coastal areas led to high flood
heights and there is local opinion that a causeway that links South Uist to Benbecula and had
replaced a more open bridge structure, had an inadequate "gap" to allow easy passage of flood water
added to the problem. To the west of this "ford", a low road was flooded and severe wind and wave
action overturned a vehicle with consequent loss of life during the height of the storm. The storm died
down quickly but the legacy of flood and structural damage was considerable. Although storms are
common along this open, windswept coast, the severity exceeded any similar events in living
memory. Considerable research by agencies such as Scottish Natural Heritage was undertaken in
the immediate aftermath and these, along with an analyses of the synoptic weather situation, have
been made and published elsewhere. Geomorphological analysis is ongoing and includes the use of
aerial photographs, LIDAR and other remote sensing techniques, as well as intensive fieldwork.
2 of 2
CoPraNet
Project part-funded by the European Union
SUMMARY OF RESPONSES
(i)
The resident community
Father Michael MacDonald, the Parish priest for Bornish, together with Flood Action Groups, has
been leading the community in their fight for better coastal zone management since this extraordinary
storm event. The community of mainly crofters and fishermen believes their own experiences of living
and surviving in their high-risk environment over many decades exposed to the Atlantic storms and
their effects, far outweighs modern science coming up with new ways of engineering. This relates
particularly to the construction of the solid causeways, especially between North Uist, Benbecula and
South Uist, where there is now one narrow opening between the Atlantic (west) and the Minch (on the
east of the islands) for tidal flows. On January 11th, the sea rose 2.05 m above the west-side
causeway. The fishermen's experience leads them to believe that the whole coastline is now a very
dangerous place when high winds are against a tidal flow of 8 knots.
Economic losses have mainly affected crofters and fishermen. Before causeway construction, cockle
fishing was common on both sides of the original bridges between the islands. Over-grazing of sheep
on the Machair that reduces the natural height has weakened the dunes coastlines, which were badly
eroded by the storm event. There are no alternative grazings for sheep, thus a great economic loss
for crofters has been experienced, in addition to around 50 sheep drowning during the event. Crofters
have since become more aware of the implications of overgrazing on coastal zone management and
have voluntarily fenced-off parts of the Machair with great success, re-generating the Machair very
quickly.
Father Michael believes the community is the driver and has to be at the centre of all decision-making
processes, whilst considering advice from scientists. Two million pounds sterling of lottery money
and funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise has been allocated towards the purchase of South
Uist estates for the community, which covers 93,000 acres. The community will make a decision on
the purchase in November 2006. As part of the crofters' buy-out of the South Uist estates,
consultants were asked to investigate the existing condition and capacity of the drainage systems
which serve the crofting communities throughout South Uist and the southern part of Benbecula. In
addition, and in connection with future improvements and maintenance, preliminary investigative work
has been carried out.
The local community at present does not have confidence that a CZM approach will be better in
future. Nothing has been done in terms of repair to causeways etc., as all these structures have been
weakened and they believe if there were to be another similar event, the damage would be worse.
The community feels that more causeways should not be constructed without taking into account all
the information they have collected over the last 20 years since the bridges were replaced. Many
questions, concerns and worries still exist, and were expressed forcibly in a BBC Radio programme in
January 2007.
Abstracted from verbatim report on discussion in September 2006 and Radio interview
(ii)
Local Authority Response
The initial response was rapid and concentrated on damage assessment and repair to acute local
problems. The Western Isles Council attended and contributed to meetings that were initiated by
local groups, especially South Uist. The Council held a special assessment meeting in Stornaway at
which external experts on environmental, geomorphological and engineering matters spoke. The
Scottish Executive was also represented. Hitherto, they had agreed to make substantial sums of
additional money available to the Council under emergency response and action criteria. This
immediate response, which included surveys, assessments and local protective coastal engineering
works could be described as Phase I, and was probably concluded by summer 2005. In 2006, various
3 of 3
CoPraNet
Project part-funded by the European Union
activities were planned and some protective works initiated. Nevertheless, the nature of funding from
central government requires that financial payments need to be used for specific rather than general
purposes and are subject to normal contractual arrangements which can take some time to complete.
In the latter period, the Council appointed two staff to examine longer-term managerial options.
These actions are summarized below but the key element was to enhance dialogue and consultation
with local communities. In addition, fortunately, this area was being used as a test-case for CoPraNet
and COREPOINT purposes. Thus, the principles of a CZM approach were developed and a local
coastal group was established as a partnership in July 2006. Public meetings were held with all
interested parties at various time in 2005 and 2006. Although there is more detail on the nature and
extent of these consultations, it suffices to state that these are ongoing and the process is supported
by communities, including Crofting and Gazings Committees, Flood Committees, government
agencies, Council employees and elected members and other local residents.
The latest development is a possible bid to the EU for funding for development guidance, coastal
protections and optimisation of resources, possibly in conjunction with similar regions in Ireland.
(Note: both the COREPOINT and CoPranet networks have been invaluable in making appropriate
connections). Other initiatives have included training and awareness sessions to enhance
understanding of the coastal environment and its utilization. These initiatives are set to continue.
Thus, Phase II can be summarized as forward-looking, partly driven by "if a similar storm event
occurs in the future, we will be better prepared to cope" and, a general spur to plan to use the coastal
resource by recognizing its unique attributes - agriculture, tourism, fishing, conservation - in a
balanced, integrated fashion. To this end, the safety response, i.e. future engineering works, can be
incorporated, through the structure which has been created to produce a more coherent and holistic
outcome for coastal development. For this reason the appointment of dedicated staff on the payroll of
the Western Isles Council has been a crucial enabling development to link community, agencies and
local authority interests together.
It is interesting that other coastal developments which are not related directly to the area of main
storm damage, e.g. linkages to other islands, renewable energy proposals etc. have been
incorporated into wider discussions for the sustainable use of the coastline of most of the Western
Isles.
By January 2007, there was a clearer articulation of the need, as expressed strongly by the
community, to improve coastal knowledge so that existing and future protective structures could be
designed to cope with possible future extreme events. The community were also pressing for better
offshore and nearshore data networks to assist the necessary modelling procedures.
(iii)
Agency Response
The responses from agencies and similar bodies tend to focus on their particular needs. For example,
archaeological interests conducted a rapid survey of those coastal sites (there is a very large number
of mainly Iron Age sites along the machair coastline) to assess damage and enhanced future work.
The conservational agencies also conducted surveys including overall reconnaissance and
photography - again a very large proportion of this coastline has conservational status. To some
extent, the storm continued natural, pre-existing trends in erosion and damage. Some specific
locations were known to be especially vulnerable, e.g. narrow protection barriers of sand and shingle.
Accordingly, agency response was mainly directed to damage and risk assessment. Nevertheless, in
any future planning scenario, e.g. based on CZM, their enhanced data-bases and knowledge will
prove invaluable. Co-incidentally, in 2004, Scottish Natural Heritage funded an airborne LIDAR digital
mapping programme for coastal land use and conservational purposes. These surveys of parts of the
coastline of the Outer Hebrides became available late in 2006. The same Agency has commissioned
research to identify recent changes to parts of the Machair area that were altered by the storm in
2005, e.g. Stoneybridge, Eochar, and elsewhere.
4 of 4
CoPraNet
Project part-funded by the European Union
ONGOING DEVELOPMENTS
Western Isles Council has developed a Coastal Zone Forum and Working Group.
Some remedial coastal work has been done, e.g. Stoneybridge shingle ridge, North Ford causeway,
Eriskay Breakwater, some minor road projects, closure and repair of some coastal blow by old fishing
nets, etc.; other projects are planned.
Research needs have been identified, especially in relation to Machair, but these need more
assessment. The most important is to improve the database for forecasting future storm events.
Arguments to secure funding from national government and the EU are well developed and requests
will be made.
Policy to continue links with expertise which can be provided from within the EU, specifically
CoPraNet and COREPOINT, has been agreed.
Two officers have been added to the staff of the Local Authority, with dedicated coastal zone
management job descriptions.
Increased response facilities and procedures are in place with the police, specialized rescue services
vehicles and communications equipment have been purchased.
Special attention is being given to the design of alternative and/or better flood escape routes.
Determination to maintain level of community awareness and inputs to various processes has been
recognized.
Towards the end of 2006, the Coastal Zone Officer, with help from officers of the Local Authority, has
developed some aspects of the general application of integrated coastal zone management good
practice. This has included the organisation of a series of awareness seminars with local community
groups, e.g. on coastal care. Further, CZM has been incorporated into the recent Western Isles
Council Structure Plan, and this has been approved by the Scottish Executive. Some ongoing
development needs will require external funding, mainly from the Scottish Executive (i.e. from a
national, rather than a regional or local source) and committees and local councillors are pressing for
this funding to be made available as soon as possible before the momentum and concerns of all who
were involved in the impact and aftermath of the storm of 2005 begin to wane. During the same
period, specific research needs have been identified as follows and a suggestion has been made that
these might be better co-ordinated if a Machair and or Coastal Studies Group was established in the
Outer Hebrides. To this end, the Coastal Zone Officer is preparing a bid to a special EU fund to help
with this research, using the capabilities of appropriate groups in other European countries, but with a
specific link to Ireland which also has areas of Machair along its coastline.
Research areas:
•
Understanding and predicting severe storm events;
•
An assessment as to the importance of the climatic change factor;
•
A more detailed study of both the erosional and flood effects in the South Ford and
Stoneybridge areas;
•
The incorporation of the results of the three results, as listed above, into better and more
sustainable designs for flood, storm and coastal protection works;
5 of 5
CoPraNet
Project part-funded by the European Union
•
A general assessment of the value of coastal and marine zone of the Western Isles for the
social and economic well-being of those living in the area.
Acknowledgements
Although the project is ongoing, considerable assistance has been given by Martyn Tulloch, David
Muir and Iain MacKinnon of the Western Isles Council. Margaret Carlisle, the Project Officer for
COREPOINT, provided considerable background information. Dr. Stewart Angus and Mary Harman
of Scottish Natural Heritage provided scientific, conservational and local information. Father Michael
MacDonald discussed the in-depth assessment of community responses and attitudes.
Geomorphological comments and data were kindly provided by Professor Alastair and Dr. Sue
Dawson.
6 of 6
CoPraNet
Project part-funded by the European Union
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract
Location
Methodology
The Storm Event
Summary of Community Responses:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
Residents
Local Authority
Agencies
Ongoing Developments
Acknowledgements
7 of 7
CoPraNet
Project part-funded by the European Union