SCOPAC: a critique of the past, a strategy for the future

Regional Coastal Groups were established in the late 1980s and early 1990s to promote cooperative and strategic approaches to the management of the shoreline of England and Wales (Hooke and Bray, 1995). The successful fulfillment of the initial objectives of these non-statutory groups has been widely acknowledged. Their role in the establishment of Shoreline Management Plans (MAFF, 1995) is arguably their most prominent collective achievement, but each Group has been active in advancing regional co-ordination and integration through various initiatives. The Select Committee on Agriculture, reviewing the institutional structure of coastal defence (House of Commons, 1998), concluded in favour of an enhancement of the powers and responsibilities of regional Coastal Groups. Government response to the Select Committee's report, whilst endorsing many of its observations, was to prefer the continuation of existing arrangements. The Regional Coastal Groups therefore need to review critically their past achievements and current activities as a basis for determining how they might best serve and support the evolving statutory responsibilities of their member organizations in delivering long-term strategically-based sustainable shoreline management. This situation has been anticipated by SCOPAC (Standing Conference on Problems Associated with the Coastline), which, as one of the longest established regional Coastal Groups, has been influential in promoting both conceptual and practical innovation in this field since its inception in 1986. SCOPAC commissioned the University of Portsmouth to undertake an independent analytical review of its objectives and achievements as a basis for a critical evaluation of its future strategy. The major results and recommendations are highlighted in the following sections of this paper, which reflect the balance of the original report (Carter et al., 1999). It is argued that many of the deliberations, potential conflicts and future opportunities identified are relevant to the other coastal groups around England and Wales.