Welsh golf club launches plan to fight coastal erosion

A 19th century links venue that’s located on the Pembrokeshire coast is to construct a ‘coastal defence project’ featuring ‘mattresses’ made of steel frames and filled with stone to protect the course from erosion.

Tenby Golf Club has submitted plans to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, according to Tenby Today.

The application seeks the erection of a temporary coastal defence system incorporating gabion baskets and the mattresses, to be set out in front and laid on top of the existing dune system for an approximate length of 200 metres, to protect the dunes and golf course adjacent to them from storm damage and erosion, for a period of up to 10 years.

Tenby, established in 1888, has over many years, and even more so in recent times, suffered from the ongoing effects of coastal erosion and storm damage at points along its interface with South Beach.

Tenby Golf Club. Image from Facebook

A long-term solution is being explored by the club which will look at a fully integrated and collaborative masterplan to redevelop the golf course so that it will be ‘protected’ from further encroachment.

However, it will take time to develop and implement that masterplan and so in the meantime the club is seeking a short-term solution to secure the dunes and boundary between the golf course and beach, with the application seeking planning permission for a short term coastal defence development that will offer protection to the golf course whilst the masterplan is developed and implemented.

The course has suffered more over recent years, despite the erection of some ‘soft defences’ at the foot of the dunes, and this is now impacting on the course to such an extent that parts of adjacent holes are being lost to the erosion.

Detailed studies have been undertaken which show that storm frequency is increasing, and that coastal erosion will be a continuing factor in managing the coastline at South Beach for the foreseeable future.

The masterplan, which will be prepared in 2023, will deal with various matters related to the golf course but will be a comprehensive document that provides a long-term strategy for managing the interface/ boundary of the site, the ecology of the coastline and the course itself, and continue to provide a high-quality golf course for its members and visitors to the area.