A PLAN to manage the Teignbridge coastline between Holcombe and Shaldon has been adopted by councillors.

Members of Teignbridge Council’s ruling executive committee have formally agreed the plans to mitigate future flooding and coastal erosion risks.

Teignmouth Beach Management Plan sets out a long-term strategy to strengthen coastal defences.

It includes recommendations to raise the sea wall and repair toe piles at the bottom of the sea wall, build a new groyne field, and to relocate the disposal area for dredged material from Sprey Point to an area adjacent to Teignmouth Pier to help maintain sand levels.

But work needs to be done to develop a business case to secure funding and licences for the proposals to be progressed.

Teignbridge District Council has developed the Beach Management plan in partnership with the Environment Agency alongside Jacobs Consulting and Coastal Applied Marine Research.

The report is based on months of research, modelling and analysis of wave data, sand levels and current sea defence assets.

Any construction of new coastal defences is likely to be led by the Environment Agency with Teignbridge District Council playing a key role as a project partner.

Teignbridge District Council Executive Member for Environment, Climate and Sustainability, Councillor Jackie Hook, welcomed the adoption of the Beach Management Plan.

She said: ‘We can see that the coastlines of Teignmouth and Shaldon are changing and increasingly the defences and seafront areas are suffering damage from more frequent storms.

‘The impacts will be amplified by climate change and sea level rise.

‘I welcome the approval of the Beach Management Plan as a crucial stage in applying to obtain government flood defence grant aid, to enhance the current defence structures and protect the vulnerable built areas of Teignmouth and Shaldon from flooding and erosion risks.’