Project Background

The Barmouth North Promenade forms part of the coastal defence for the town of Barmouth. It protects the properties directly behind the promenade, the railway line and the coastline more generally. The promenade and Marine Parade are currently built up on a raised embankment and form part of the overall defence to the sea. The front of this embankment is a sea wall (sheet piles, masonry faced slope and a curved wall primary wall).

The Promenade has been a feature of Barmouth for over a century, with the defence being added to and enhanced over the decades. Construction of the concrete structure and groynes in the 1930s led to declining beach levels, prompting sheet piling works in 1955 to reinforce the wall, with further work needed in 1972 where the foundation of the promenade structure was strengthened due to lowering beach levels.

From the early 2000s beach levels have decreased more rapidly with sea level rise. The predominant wave direction at Barmouth is perpendicular to the shoreline, which makes transport up and down the beach of sediment predominant over longshore movement. The dunes to the South have grown substantially since construction of the causeway in the 1970s which led to an initial accumulation of sediment on the northern part of the structure.

Following that initial sediment deposition, wind-blown transport has continued to contribute material to the dunes which has led to their current size. Without the scheme, beach levels will continue to drop as the waves reflect on the vertical wall of the concrete structure and erode the seabed. The rock revetment will absorb energy from the waves reducing the rate of erosion and limiting the lowering of beach levels.

Due to its age, the condition of the promenade is deteriorating, which increases the risk of a storm events breaching the defence, as experienced in 2021 when part of the north end of the promenade failed.

Climate change is causing sea levels to increase resulting in higher water levels. It also increases the frequency and intensity of storm evnts and rainfall events. The combination of these factors means bigger, more frequent storm surges, which increase the risk of flooding to Barmouth.

There was a major flood event in 2014 when the North Promenade defence was overwhelmed and flooding occurred behind the Promenade. With no improvements to the North Promenade defence over 900 properties are at risk of flooding with current day conditions (1% chance in any given year).

Project Funding
•Following approval of the Outline Business Case in 2021, the project has been allocated further funding via the Welsh Government’s Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) programme to develop the Full Business Case.
•In line with the National Strategy for FCERM in Wales, this programme is focussed on managing flood risk to people and infrastructure, as well as achieving wider community benefits.
•This stage of the scheme development is funded 100% by Welsh Government. Construction work will be funded 85% by Welsh Government and 15% by Cyngor Gwynedd