The Environment Agency works with local authorities nationwide to develop Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) to manage coastal hazards and risks. To support this work, The EA has launched a new BETA Service digital map-based tool called SMP-Explorer to make the SMP process more accessible to understand and use to track, monitor and track plans, activities and progress. In this article, Julie Foley, Director of Flood Risk Strategy and National Adaptation, discusses how this will strengthen shoreline management planning and strategically manage the increasing risk from combined coastal hazards of flooding, erosion, and rising sea levels. The tool will help ensure that SMPs are based on evidence, governance and local leadership with influence on local development and planning in high-risk areas. It ensures that SMPs ultimately deliver on the ambitions of the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy.
