What is Coastal Squeeze?

As part of the Environment Agency’s Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research Programme, the ‘What is Coastal Squeeze?’ project looked at how better define and understand what causes coastal squeeze and assess the best way to manage its past and future impacts.

The Government has a legal obligation to compensate for the impacts of maintaining coastal flood management infrastructure, or management activities that could lead to coastal squeeze. However a number of studies have highlighted inconsistencies in the definition used for ‘coastal squeeze’ and demonstrated problems in quantifying it. If coastal squeeze is underestimated, then the legal obligation is not fully met, and if overestimated extra compensatory habitat is put in place at considerable cost.

Through desk-based research and a workshop with coastal practitioners, the project agreed a new definition of coastal squeeze:

“Coastal squeeze is the loss of natural habitats or deterioration of their quality arising from anthropogenic structures or actions, preventing the landward transgression of those habitats that would otherwise naturally occur in response to sea level rise (SLR) in conjunction with other coastal processes. Coastal squeeze affects habitat on the seaward side of existing structures.”

Alongside this new definition, the project also agreed a standard method and guidance for consistently assessing coastal squeeze and provided our case studies that demonstrate how the method can be applied to mudflats, saltmarshes and sand/shingle beaches. You can read the full report here.