Project Overview

Location and Background Information

Preston Beach is located towards the North East of Weymouth Bay in Dorset and is a popular amenity destination for a range of activities ranging from water sports to walking. The beach extends from the Greenhill rock groyne to Bowleaze Cove.

The 1.4km long beach is orientated from South West to North East and is adjacent to the B3155 Preston Beach Road, a significant highway route for the town of Weymouth. 

Preston Beach has no environmental designations but is adjacent to a number of other environmentally designated sites including: Lodmoor Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserve; Overcombe Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI); South Dorset Coast SSSI; Isle of Portland to Studland Cliffs Special Area of Conservation (SAC); and the Dorset & East Devon UNESCO World Heritage Site (the ‘Jurassic Coast’).  

Previous coastal defence work

A capital scheme comprising a new seawall and promenade; 214,000m³ of beach recharge; and a terminal rock groyne at the South West end of the beach (Greenhill rock groyne) was constructed by the Environment Agency (EA) between 1995 and 1996. The objective of the scheme was to manage the risk of coastal flooding and erosion to the low-lying land inshore which, at the time, included 86 residential properties; the (now former) A353 Preston Beach Road; infrastructure; a municipal tip and environmentally designated areas such as Lodmoor SSSI, Overcombe SNCI and RSPB reserve.  

If the beach loses beach material during a storm event and the rock armour beneath the beach is subject to direct wave action it will be displaced, which could undermine the promenade, leading to progressive failure of the defences. Such displacement did occur in the winter of 2013/14 and resulted in part of the rock armour layer being repaired using larger rocks. Additional works were then carried out during winter 2021/22 with the addition of a more extensive rock revetment to the East of the Greenhill Groyne. 

In addition to the EA defences, in 1983/84 Weymouth & Portland Borough Council (now Dorset Council (DC)) constructed a wave return wall (which joins to the EA wall) and slope stabilisation scheme at the southern end of Furzy Cliff. This is still maintained by DC and protects against the risk of coastal erosion and landsliding at the present time. However, as the natural, undefended, Furzy Cliff to the North of this defended area continues to retreat landwards in the future, these DC defences will eventually become outflanked. This is expected to occur within the next 50 to 100 years. 

The current condition of the coastal defences is assessed by the EA as being “good” to “fair” and with appropriate maintenance, should achieve the original scheme design life. However, this is dependent upon the presence of the beach in support of the hard defences along the frontage. It is estimated that given present rates of loss of beach material and assuming the success of the beach recycling scheme, the beach should be able to be retained to required levels without additional beach renourishment.