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Coastal
Communities
2150
Final Project and Communications Report

Foreword
Climate change is one of society’s biggest challenges. Extreme weather,
higher temperatures and rising sea levels will bring significant change,
with coastal areas facing some of the biggest risks.
We don’t know how fast our climate will change, but there is overwhelming
agreement that we should prepare for these future impacts now.
Managing coastal zones might become significantly different during
the next 150 years and beyond.
Coastal change will impact all areas of life and providing ever-increasing
levels of traditional protection (such as coastal defences) might not
always be a realistic option either economically, environmentally or
socially. Changes to rainfall patterns and temperatures might mean
droughts, heat-waves or even freezing winters. We need a plan to adapt,
ensuring that short-term decisions are in line with long-term needs.
Coastal Communities 2150 (CC2150) looked forward to the year 2150.
We have not proposed detailed solutions, but instead looked at how best
to engage with communities. We formed a series of engagement groups
throughout the south east of England, the Netherlands and Belgium.
CC2150 brought together stakeholders and partners to share experiences
and learn from each other. Together they helped us design and test
communications tools to raise awareness of the risks and opportunities.
We are extremely grateful for the support and enthusiasm they have
brought to the project. By producing their own local visions and action
plans for how they might adapt to climate change, they have taken the
first steps towards a safer, more prosperous future.
Much has changed in the five years since the CC2150 project was
conceived. We have seen significant changes in weather patterns and
considerably more public debate around climate change. This report
provides an overview of our work. We are very proud of the outcomes and
the legacy left by the partners and the groups they have engaged with.
John Gower, Environment Agency
CC2150 shaping our
future by the coast.
Front cover image: Fin de Journée
à Audresselles (©Eric Desaunois).

1 Coastal Communities 2150 Final Project and Communications Report
Contents
Executive Summary 3
Objectives and Benefits 4
INTERREG IV A 2 Seas Programme 5
Organisation 6
Timeline of Project Activities 12
Engagement Strategies and 14
Target Audiences
Tools and Techniques 20
Visions and Action Plans 25
Lessons Learnt 28
Practical Guide 30
Communication and Dissemination 31
Closing Conference 33
Legacy Arrangements 36
Key Outcomes 38
Taking it Forward 40
Acknowledgements 41

Coastal Communities 2150 (CC2150) is a partnership project between
six organisations. The Région Nord-Pas de Calais joined the project
as an official observer in May 2012.
Région Nord-Pas de Calais (FR)
Region Nord-Pas de Calais joined the project as
official observer in May 2012. They participated
in project workshops and other activities to build
their knowledge and understanding of coastal
climate change issues both in their area and the
other partner regions.
Kent County Council (UK)
Kent County Council worked with the coastal
communities of the Isle of Sheppey, Margate and
Cliftonville, and Romney Marsh who are most
at risk or have the most scope for opportunities
from coastal climate change. Each community has
developed locally-owned plans and community
visions which will build the resilience of the
diverse Kent coastline.
Environment Agency, lead partner (UK)
The Environment Agency engaged coastal
communities in the Seaford, Newhaven, Lewes
and lower Ouse areas of East Sussex to develop
a long-term vision to manage and adapt to future
coastal climate change. Coastal flooding, beach
management and land use have been their
main interests.
Alterra (NL)
With a view to climate-driven coastal change,
Alterra and the municipality of Schouwen-
Duiveland have supported and engaged local
stakeholders to develop a sustainable long-term
local coastal vision and economic future, working
with businesses and tourist industry.
Agency for Maritime and Coastal Services –
Coastal Division (BE)
Coastal Division has focused on improving
engagement with the coastal municipalities
through the process of executing the Master
Plan for Coastal Safety. By engaging all relevant
stakeholders in the process, the plan will belong
to all and not just Coastal Division.
Province West-Vlaanderen (Coordination Centre
on Integrated Coastal Zone Management) (BE)
The Coordination Centre on ICZM has worked
together with local, provincial and regional
government on inter coastal zone management.
They involved stakeholders from tourism,
municipalities and nature organisations. Special
attention has been paid to the aesthetics of
spatial quality and development.
Hampshire County Council (UK)
Hampshire County Council worked with 6 pilot
areas in the Solent. Their project ‘CCATCH the
Solent’ has engaged with communities to create
a vision for 2150 and beyond. They have created
coastal adaptation plans which reflect local
needs and aspirations.
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B 146 -

Executive Summary
Coastal Communities 2150 (CC2150) used cross-border working between
seven partners from four different northern European countries to
engage communities on coastal climate change. By following a common
project framework, but addressing different local situations, we shared
what we learnt about communicating the risks from climate change and
opportunities from planning for adaptation.
Partners worked within communities to produce long-term visions and
action plans for how they might sustainably adapt to climate change.
We enhanced our work by developing individual strategies and engaging
with diverse audiences.
CC2150 achieved many positive outcomes, including:
• Hampshire County Council worked with six small local communities at
risk from sea-level rise to look at short, medium and long-term solutions.
Computer visualisations and targeted engagement helped communities
appreciate the risks and opportunities.
• Kent County Council looked at wider climate change impacts affecting
three coastal communities with distinct identities. They used structured
engagement to present complex issues to each audience, building trust
so that the community owned the vision.
• The Environment Agency engaged the lower river Ouse catchment of East
Sussex, working with residents, coastal authorities and young people
on the long-term impacts of sea-level rise. They used artist and computer
visualisations to show different scenarios and solutions for their 2150
community vision and adaptation plan, ‘Waking up to tomorrow’.
• Alterra engaged businesses and residents on economic regeneration
of Renesse village in Schouwen-Duiveland. They found that a long-
term plan sets actions in context. A ‘path of no regrets’ approach,
which considers short-term actions, enhanced the long-term need. This
combined well with a ‘natural and ecological systems’ approach to both
protecting the island from storms and encouraging sustainable tourism.
• In Belgium, the West Vlaanderen project engaged professional and
government stakeholders on integrated approaches to coastal zone
management. Using long-term perspectives they built spatial plans
to accommodate future adaptation.
• The Agency for Maritime and Coastal Services – Coastal Division
involved stakeholders and Municipalities on planned future coastal
defence works and the benefits of a Coastal Safety Master Plan covering
the whole Belgian coast.
Visit www.cc2150.eu to download all of our project reports.
CC2150 sucessfully achieved our
project goals of preparing pilot
communities to better understand
the risks and opportunities that
climate change will bring. We
developed and used innovative
engagement solutions by working
closely with local communities
and stakeholders. The ‘Lessons
Learnt’ report and ‘Practical
Guide’ share these findings.
Climate change affects us all,
but the people that live and work
along our coasts face the greatest
challenge. Rising sea levels and
more extreme weather will impact
on vulnerable parts of the coast
first, making adaptation a priority.
There are opportunities as well.
The aim of CC2150 was to identify
how best to engage the public,
businesses and local authorities
on the need to adapt and the
opportunities that exist. This
project explores how effective
communication can be translated
into action.

Objectives and Benefits
The objectives of CC2150 were to:
• Increase awareness of long-term coastal change amongst pilot
local communities.
• Achieve buy-in to the project from a range of local stakeholders.
• Develop a range of communication tools and guidance that can
be used and applied in other European coastal communities.
• Learn how to effectively communicate the potential impacts
of climate change and sea level rise to coastal communities.
• Establish a network of European partners to share information
and best practice.
Reflecting on the project, the partners considered the project
to have delivered significant benefits in relation to each of these
objectives:
“We were extremely successful [in raising awareness of long-term coastal
change] – there is now much higher awareness on this.” (Hampshire)
“We achieved buy-in from a number of new partners and elected
members. We engaged with over 2,000 people and identified over 100
actions. There were 90 stakeholders whose active support was integral
in delivering the project.” (Kent)
“The products we used were in my opinion successful and can easily
be adopted by other organisations.” (Coastal Division)
“For Alterra, it was very enriching to meet and work with partner
organisations across the 2 Seas area in the CC2150 project.
Also, we joined PRiME-C, the follow-up initiative to CC2150.” (Alterra)
However, partners also recognize the need for ongoing work
in the longer term:
“CC2150 is a small but important step on a longer journey. The challenge
of climate change is immense, but by working together in partnership,
we have enabled our communities to be better prepared for this journey.”
(John Gower, Environment Agency)
“Informed communities are much more likely to make better decisions when
planning for their long-term future.” (Richard Hatch, Environment Agency)
“Following the launch of the action plans there are four main areas
of work to build and develop the local legacy of the CC2150 project:
grants for local groups, funding training, continued learning and
continuing the conversation.” (Christine Wissink, Kent County Council)
In terms of communication,
we really learnt from each
other, working with Partners
and appreciating the different
methods of engaging in different
countries.
Environment Agency

Wilde Petrone, Finance Officer and
Edouard Gatineau, Project Officer,
Joint Technical Secretariat.
INTERREG IV A 2 Seas Programme
CC2150 was 50% funded by the INTERREG IV A 2 Seas Programme,
a cross-border cooperation programme part-financed by the European
Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The programme supports joint
cross-border cooperation projects between organisations from England,
France, Belgium and the Netherlands, on a variety of themes including
economic development, environment and quality of life.
Coastal communities across the 2 Seas area face similar issues from
higher storm surges and increased erosion, more extreme temperatures,
flooding and salinisation. CC2150 has allowed partners to work together,
sharing experiences and learning on how best to communicate the long-
term issues associated with our changing coastlines.
In such a highly important topic for the 2 Seas area, the Joint Technical
Secretariat is proud to say that the CC2150 project has been a real
success; success in terms of intensity of cooperation between the
partners but also in terms of communities engagement. Engaging with
coastal communities was indeed the heart of this project and could
be seen as very valuable and important element to address the issue
of climate change.
The project established a solid knowledge foundation on which they
developed community engagement groups across the cross border area.
Working at cross border level seems to have brought a clear added-value
for the partners and for the coastal communities. The jointly developed
engagement strategies and all the other tools are also of clear interest to
other organisations and communities concerned with similar challenges.
As a whole, we recognize that the Coastal Communities 2150 project
is among the best practices in the 2 Seas Programme, in terms of the
quality of the outputs it has delivered and the high intensity and added-
value of cross border cooperation.
North Sea
Channel
Isles of Scilly
Norfolk
Suffolk
Cambridgeshire
Essex
Kent
East
Sussex
West
Sussex
Surrey
Hampshire
Wiltshire
Somerset
Devon
Cornwall
and
Isles of Scilly
Dorset
Isle of Wight
Finistère
Cotes-d'Armor
Morbihan
Ille
et Vilaine
Manche Calvados
Orne
Eure
Seine Maritime
Somme
Aisne
Oise
Pas de Calais
Nord
Veurne
Oostende
Ieper Kortrijk
Oudenaarde
Aalst Dendermonde
MechelenRoeselare
Diksmuide Tielt
Gent
Brugge
Eeklo
Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen
Overig-Zeeland
Groot-
Rijnmond
Delft en Westland
Zuidoost-Zuid-
Holland
West-Noord
Brabant
Antwerpen
Sint-Niklaas
Turnhout
Plymouth
Torbay
Poole
Bournemouth
Isle of Wight
Southampton
Portsmouth
Brighton and Hove
Southend-on-Sea
Thurrock
Medway
South-West
South-East
East Of
England
London
Bretagne
Picardie
Basse-Normandie
Haute-Normandie
Nord
Pas de Calais
Noord-Brabant
Antwerpen
Zuid-Holland
West
Vlaanderen
Oost
Vlaanderen
Zeeland
2 Seas crossborder cooperation Programme 2007 - 2013
Eligible and adjacent NUTS III areas of the Common Priority with the France - (Channel) - England Programme
0 20 Kilomètres[
Unitary Authorities
Adjacent areasEligible areas
Regional / Provincial boundaries
2 Seas Programme
France - (Channel) - England Programme
2 Seas Region
Eligible areas

Organisation
Team and Project Partners
John Gower, Richard Hatch, Sue Lade
and Paul Costelloe, Environment Agency
Christine Dejonckheere and Marie-Caroline
Duroyon, Région Nord-Pas de Calais
Pantone®
Quadrichromie
PANTONE®
288 C
PANTONE®
7409 C
C 100 -
M 85 35
J - 100
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R 27 247
V 56 173
B 146 -
The Environment Agency (lead partner)
The Environment Agency is responsible for managing flood and coastal
erosion risks in England. The Agency co-ordinates strategic planning and
work with local authorities and landowners to reduce the risks to people
and properties from flooding. It also makes sure there is enough water for
people and wildlife; and protects and improve air, land and water quality.
The Environment Agency is the UK’s leading authority on climate change
and advises the UK government on how to help people and wildlife to
adapt to the future impacts.
As part of the CC2150 Project, the Environment Agency worked with
communities from the towns of Seaford, Newhaven, Lewes and
the villages of the lower Ouse valley in East Sussex. A single local
engagement group was set up which drew members from each of
these areas. By working together they raised awareness of current
and long-term risks (and opportunities) from sea level rise, changing
temperatures, land use, variable rainfall and salinisation of drinking
water supplies.
Regional Nord-pas de Calais (official observer)
The Région Nord-Pas de Calais joined CC2150 as an observer in May
2012. Their key areas of interest are sustainable development and the
environmental impact from coastal change. Their involvement in CC2150
allowed them to:
• Compare their situation with the partners from three nearby countries
with similar coastal issues
• Better understand the threats and opportunities from climate
change, and plan their own local adaptation solutions
• Learn ways of communicating and raising awareness of coastal
change in their local communities. A particular learning point was
that the psychological aspects of communicating long-term coastal
change play an important role in managing the risk of intercoastal
zone management
• Realise that they share very similar problems to the other CC2150
partners and develop good ideas about how to resolve them.
The closing conference gave the opportunity to learn about the project
tools, stakeholders engaged with the project work and to hear about
preparing for the long-term impacts of climate change. This was very
pertinent following the recent extreme weather events.
We were very interested to take
part in your project as observers
and we hope it will be possible to
continue this European partnership
about coastal management.
Région Nord-Pas de Calais

Christine Wissink, Kent County Council
Kent County Council (project partner 2)
Kent County Council is one of the largest councils in the UK and provides
services for around 1.6 million residents. The CC2150 project sits within
the council’s sustainability and climate change service, who work with
partners across the county to deliver the Kent Environment Strategy.
This strategy looks to ensure a high-quality local environment that is low-
carbon, resilient to climate change, and a thriving green economy.
The Kent coast is one of the longest and most varied coastlines in
England. It provides a wide range of tourist activities and is home to
many internationally important coastal habitats, whilst also hosting one
of the busiest ports in northern Europe and one of the largest offshore
wind farms in the world.
Kent County Council worked with coastal communities to raise awareness
of future risks and opportunities as a result of changing climate.
The CC2150 project focused on the Isle of Sheppey, Margate Cliftonville
and Romney Marsh. These communities feature a mix of climate-
vulnerable towns and villages in low-lying rural marshes, together with
densely populated urban centres and are host to a diverse range of
economic activity. The project team worked with these communities
and developed locally-owned plans and community visions which have
built resilience to negative climate related impacts and identified and
capitalised on new opportunities. These can be found at
www.kentcc2150.org.uk

Karen McHugh, Solent Forum,
and Rachael Gallagher, Hampshire
County Council
Hampshire County Council (project partner 3)
Hampshire County Council is the upper tier of local government for
Hampshire and provides a range of public services for the 1.35 million
residents in the county. The council aims to maintain and enhance the
quality of life in the county and to maximize public well-being.
Hampshire County Council has been examining how the coast is changing
and what such changes mean for local communities. Through CC2150 the
council developed the ‘Coastal Communities Adapting to Change –
the Solent project (CCATCH-the Solent). Other project partners included
the Environment Agency, Natural England, Solent coastal authorities,
the Channel Coastal Observatory and the Solent Forum.
The coastal land surrounding the Solent is expected to be subject to
significant coastal change and some vulnerable locations may not be
defended in the future. The communities in these areas will need to be
able to adapt to future changes, for example by making their homes
more resilient.
‘CCATCH-the Solent’ focused on 6 discreet coastal areas: Beaulieu to
Calshot, Southampton Upper West Itchen, Royal Victoria Country Park,
Solent Breezes Holiday Park, Langstone and Yarmouth, and worked with
the local communities, businesses and others to raise awareness and
understanding of coastal change. Each community was encouraged
to develop a vision for their area and to agree an Adaptation Plan to take
forward agreed actions. The project website provides further details:
www.solentforum.org/current/CCATCH/
The annual Brambles bank cricket match played on a
sandbar in the Solent which is exposed only once a year.

Maurice Paulissen, Carla Grashof-
Bokdam and Ingrid Conninx, Alterra
Alterra (project partner 4)
Alterra is part of Wageningen University and Research Centre in the
Netherlands. With a focus on the ‘green living environment’ Alterra works
at both local and international levels with governments, businesses and
fellow institutions and universities.
One area of particular interest to Alterra is the Province of Zeeland.
This region is famous for its ‘delta works’. These were established after
the 1953 flooding disaster and the network of dams, dikes and storm
surge barriers have brought a high degree of coastal safety to the region.
Their development of the delta works has also had a significant impact
on a socio-economic level: former islands have been connected by roads,
some sea inlets have lost tidal influence and others have turned into
freshwater lakes – with important consequences for fisheries
and farming.
Awareness has grown that an important downside of the delta works
is the reduced ecological resilience of the modified estuarine habitats.
With a view on climate-driven coastal change, new and innovative ways
of combining long-term coastal safety with economic prosperity in an
ecologically resilient environment need to be brought forward whilst
protecting the economic future of the area.
Through the CC2150 project Alterra worked closely with the municipality
of Schouwen-Duiveland, one of the islands of the Province of Zeeland,
to support the coastal resort town of Renesse to develop a sustainable
local coastal vision and inspirational long-term economic future for the
town and the surrounding area.

Hannelore Maelfait and Irene Van der
Craats, Province West-Vlaanderen
Province West-Vlaanderen – Coordination Centre on ICZM
(project partner 5)
The Coordination Centre for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)
in Belgium aims to stimulate integrated coastal management. It is the
point of contact for discussion on the coastal zone and hosts discussions
on cross-sectoral themes with partners and stakeholders.
Belgium has 67 kilometres of coastline. There is an absolute commitment
from the regional government to continue to defend the coast, at least
in the 40-50 year time frame.
The CC2150 work in Belgium, with the two partners and stakeholders,
has been to engage local people, organisations and businesses in
thinking about the purpose of the coastal defences and what needs
to be done to adapt to climate change in the long-term.
The Coordination Centre on ICZM has engaged with the different
governmental bodies that are active in the coastal zone, to develop
or adapt towards an integrated coastal vision. CC2150 has supported
a number of engagement projects including a spatial aesthetics study
for three municipalities along the coast; work with local stakeholders on
responding to climate change; and producing a coastal vision which will
guide future development in a way that takes account of climate change.
Through CC2150, the Coordination Centre has brought together relevant
stakeholders and local municipalities, aiming to embed the principles
agreed in the different processes within the different levels of the
society. Their work has focused on the spatial planning of the coast
to make the issues tangible for local municipalities.
Belgium coastline near Wenduine.

Charlotte Devriendt, Agency for Maritime
and Coastal Services – Coastal Division
Agency for Maritime and Coastal Services – Coastal Division
(project partner 6)
The purpose of the Coastal Division is to provide coastal defences on
the Flemish coast, to support coastal and sea-related tourist-recreational
activities and contribute to swift and safe shipping traffic to and from the
sea ports and the river Scheldt.
A Master Plan for Coastal Safety has recently been produced and
guidelines developed to gain community support for the plan. There is
not a strong culture of consultation or engagement in Belgium, and the
CC2150 project has been essential in supporting a move towards more
proactive engagement processes. The project has supported proactive
work with local municipalities to develop community understanding and
acceptance of the Master Plan. The aim is that the plan should no longer
be a plan of the Coastal Division, but a plan for everyone who likes to live
near or visit the coast.
Since the Master Plan for Coastal Safety aims to protect the Flemish
Coast against a thousand year storm event, the focus of CC2150 work
has been on protection against flooding.

Timeline of Project Activities
Project launch
workshop 1
Oostende,
Apr 2011
Workshop 2
Brighton,
Aug 2011
Workshop 3
Worthing,
Dec 2011
Workshop 4
Margate,
Mar 2012
Workshop 5
Oostende,
Jun 2012
Workshop 6
Renesse,
Oct 2012
Region Nord pas
de Calais join as
observers
May 2012
20122011
CC2150 INTERREG project governance
Activity 1 Apr 11 – Oct 12
Establishing a solid foundation
CC2150 project Jan 11 – Jul 14
Activity 2 Aug 11 – Oct 12
Developing engagement strategies and products
Activity 4 Aug 11 – Jun 14
Communication and dissemination

Workshop 7
Southampton,
Mar 2013
Workshop 8
Portsmouth,
Jul 2013
Workshop 9
Dunkerque,
Oct 2013
Closing
conference,
Brighton
Feb 2014
Final Report
Jun 2014
Lessons Learnt
and Practical
Guide
Feb 2014
Mid-term
Progress report
Jan 2013
20142013
Activity 3 Oct 12 – Jan 14
Applying engagement strategies

The most important thing we have learnt thus far is that everyone’s
situations are very similar. So when you feel like you are isolated or
dealing with a very unique problem, if you look to your neighbours,
you may well find an answer because they are probably dealing with
a related issue. Having the open communications between partners
has really encouraged finding joint solutions to problems.
Christine Wissink, Kent County Council, UK
Engagement Strategies
and Target Audiences
Engagement was a fundamental part of the CC2150 project, putting the
emphasis on working with local stakeholders and communities to raise
awareness of climate and coastal change and develop responses with
them, rather than imposing solutions on them or telling them what to do.
Partners chose different engagement strategies, in terms of scale, topic
and target audiences to suit their local needs.
The Environment Agency's CC2150 focus area map showing flood risk.

Priority Engagement Areas Key topics Target audiences
Environment Agency (UK) A single area: the catchment
of the lower Ouse valley,
encompassing the towns of
Lewes, Seaford, Newhaven
and villages in between.
Long-term rising sea levels
and flood risk, changing
land use, water supplies and
quality, impacts on natural
ecological systems.
Local authorities, businesses,
young people, landowners,
coastal groups.
Kent County Council (UK) Three separate coastal
communities: the Isle
of Sheppey, Margate
Cliftonville and Romney
Marsh.
Range of climate change
issues including sea level
rise, extreme weather events,
coastal erosion, changing
seasonal weather patterns.
General public, local
councils.
Hampshire County Council (UK) Six separate local sites:
Beaulieu to Calshot,
Southampton Upper West
Itchen, Royal Victoria Country
Park, Solent Breezes Holiday
Park, Langstone, and
Yarmouth.
Coastal change- challenges/
opportunities, especially
coastal flood risk and
erosion.
General public, businesses,
elected members, young
people.
Alterra (NL) Renesse, a coastal resort
town in the Province of
Zeeland.
Coastal change- challenges
and opportunities.
Businesses, residents and
Municipality of Schouwen-
Duiveland.
Province West-Vlaanderen
(Coordination Centre on
Integrated Coastal Zone
Management) (BE)
The Flemish coast of 67
kilometres.
Land use planning to adapt to
climate change.
Local authorities, tourist
industry, environmental and
coastal safety groups, spatial
planners.
Agency for Maritime and Coastal
Services – Coastal Division (BE)
The Flemish coast of 67
kilometres
Flooding, linked to coastal
defences
Local authorities, plus
anyone affected by
their coastal defence
projects, including local
residents, businesses,
tourism organisations and
environmental organisations

Choice of key topics
The key topics chosen for engagement differed widely between the
partners. The lower Ouse valley project focused on the long-term risks
of climate change, taking 2150 as a challenging horizon. This project
used rising sea-levels as a prime focus for engagement, but also looked
at wider climate change impacts such as changing land use, water
supplies and natural systems. The Kent project took broad climate
change impacts as their focus, including challenges and opportunities
from coastal erosion, extreme weather and changing seasonal weather
patterns, while the Hampshire project primarily focused on the risks
and opportunities from coastal flooding and erosion. The Kent project
commissioned a report1
from the University of Kent on identifying and
overcoming barriers to engaging on long-term climate change, which
explored how best to engage people on issues that could be potentially
challenging. This was very useful and used by a number of partners to
inform their approach to engaging on climate.
Several projects – including the Netherlands project – were able to
engage people more easily around ‘coastal change’ than around ‘climate
change’: those who were sceptical about man-made climate change
were still willing to consider how to improve their area’s economy, or
speak about erosion or flood risks affecting their property or area. The
Netherlands project also found, as did Kent and Hampshire, that people
tended to relate more readily to a medium-term horizon (e.g. 2050) than
the long-term horizon of 2150. This was in contrast to the lower Ouse
valley project, which found that the 2150 horizon inspired people –
young and old – to think beyond immediate flooding risks.
In Belgium, the two projects had a slightly different focus for
engagement. The West Vlaanderen project focused on ‘integrated coastal
zone management’, encompassing management of climate change
amongst other issues, while the Coastal Division focused on proactive
communication about the Division’s Master Plan for Coastal Safety.
I think out of this will come some
very positive thinking about
how we can go forward, how
we prepare for the increasing
impacts which climate change
will have, how we cope with more
extreme weather, which we are
undoubtedly likely to have over
the years ahead. And how we can
work with communities, not telling
people what to do, but working
with communities in getting the
best solutions.
Lord Smith, Chairman of the Environment
Agency, UK
1 '
Engaging Coastal Communities in Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Measures
– Phases 1 and 2’, R.Sutton, K.Douglas, A.Murphy, School of Psychology,
University of Kent, August 2013. Documents can be accessed via the following
link www.kentcc2150.org.uk

Choice of geographic area
The choice and scale of geographic area had implications for the
structure of engagement in each area. Three projects covered quite wide
geographic areas: the two Belgian projects both covered the whole
of the Belgian coast, while the Kent project covered three broad areas
(the Isle of Sheppey, Margate Cliftonville and Romney Marsh). In Kent,
a separate ‘engagement group’ of local stakeholders was set up in
each of these three areas, while in Belgium work tended to focus on
partnership working with specific municipalities. In contrast, both the
Netherlands and lower Ouse valley projects had a single engagement
group for their area: the former focused specifically on the village of
Renesse while the latter brought together stakeholders from the towns
and villages which comprise the lower Ouse valley. The Hampshire
project combined the big and the small, covering 6 small but distinct
project areas. This was managed by setting up an overall project steering
group, plus a series of 6 engagement groups local to the specific areas.
These different ways of working have provided a wealth of learning about
the ways to set up and manage a successful engagement process. Details
are set out in the Practical Guide.
Choice of target audience
The choice of target audience for each local project was closely linked
with the choice of topic and geographic area. In Kent, the primary
audience for engagement work was the general public and local councils
in each of the three broad project areas. In Hampshire, the target
audience were people living in specific settlements at risk from
coastal flooding.
Many of the local projects chose to engage with young people.
The projects in Kent, Hampshire and the lower Ouse valley all worked
to engage children through local schools. Engaging young people
requires a lot of preparation and planning and the support of the local
schools. Whilst this can be hard work, it is extremely rewarding.

Engaging businesses was challenging and required flexibility. The Dutch
project in Renesse was particularly successful in engaging this group.
Nearly every project engaged at some level with local government,
through district councils, parish councils and/or municipalities.
Sometimes the challenge was to capture the attention of these groups,
and make the issues real to them.
Case study – The benefits of joint partner workshops -
Workshop 9, Dunkerque, France
CC2150 held nine joint partner workshops throughout the project
in the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In addition, workshop nine
was hosted by the observers from Région Nord-Pas de Calais. They
worked together with Province West-Vlaanderen to arrange a number
of presentations and a visit to the coastline in Zuydcoote and the
dunes at Marchand.
As observers, the Région Nord-Pas de Calais used Workshop 9
to explain the local work they are doing and how it may cross over
with CC2150. They highlighted the problems they face with coastal
protection and erosion, and the different possible solutions,
drawing comparisons with other countries.
CC2150 partners worked together through workshops to plan and
share information. Workshops allowed exploration of success factors,
challenges and other learning. They also enabled joint decision-
making around the production of various evaluation reports and in
particular the Mid-Term Review, Practical Guide and Lessons Learnt
reports. All partners contributed to these documents throughout the
project. The documents can be found, with other project reports,
on www.cc2150.eu
The workshops quickly built good relationships between partners so
that they all felt comfortable about sharing their views and asking for
advice where needed. It became clear that all partners worked
in different ways and at varying speeds, and face-to-face discussions
helped to break down potential barriers in order to maximise the
benefits of collaboration.
Partners on a site visit in Dunkerque.

Renesse community event.
Itchentides website.
Case study – Engaging businesses in Renesse, Netherlands
Two workshops aimed at businesses and other stakeholders were
organised in Renesse in 2013. Directors of prominent Renesse
businesses in the recreation sector were invited. Although Alterra
were careful to consider the availability of business directors
(e.g. making sure the workshop was not organised during high
season), and despite several positive responses to invitations,
no business representatives attended the first workshop.
In response to this, Alterra made sure that everyone, including the
absentees, were well informed of the results of the first workshop
and personally invited to the second. Time was also invested in
getting to know business directors personally (e.g. 1 to 1 interviews,
keeping them well updated of the process/upcoming events). Using
local networks, additional business stakeholders were also contacted
for the second workshop and the CC2150 project and the second
workshop were publicised in the regional press on several occasions.
As a result of these actions, businesses were well represented at the
second workshop, participants were very committed and actively
involved, and the interactive event was very successful.
Case study – Community-ownership of website, Hampshire, UK
(www.itchentides.org.uk)
The Community of Southampton Itchen designed a website to help
their neighbours understand everything they need to know about the
weather, tides and flood risk. The website also provides information
on the actions of the community sub-groups.
In this area, high tides in combination with storm surges can occur
throughout the year and cause flooding to roads and properties.
It is critical, therefore, that the community understand tides and how
storm surges occur so that they can prepare themselves for flooding.
A number of residents had been aware of the risks for some time and
take precautions in advance of flood events. These residents built the
website to share their knowledge. CC2150 provided the domain and
simple layout and let the community group add information and keep
the site up to date.

Tools and Techniques
Images and visualisations
Images were a powerful tool to inspire and engage people. In the seaside
resort of Renesse, Netherlands, Alterra hired two young and enthusiastic
architects to produce inspiring images of possible futures for the town.
These images triggered real interest because they were based on places
that the stakeholders knew well and depicted appealing and seemingly
achievable futures.
In the lower Ouse valley, UK, images were used as a means of
heightening interest in the project in the wider community. Recent
photographs of local areas were shown with and without flooding.
The ‘reminiscence’ factor was also incorporated, with photos of the areas
of coastline from a hundred years ago shown next to how they look now.
By looking back, it was easier to then ask people to think about what the
future would be like and what changes that would bring.
Presenting technical information
CC2150 was not about climate science. Nevertheless, in order to raise
awareness and engage people, it has been necessary to communicate
technical issues. A number of approaches have been utilised.
Southampton City Council, a key project partner, developed a detailed
technical guide to answer any possible questions that the community
might have on flood risk. The guide contained wide-ranging technical
information including sources of flood risk, local tidal patterns and
explanations of flood maps. The guide was delivered to every property
in the flood zone and disseminated at community events.
In the lower Ouse valley, UK, the Environment Agency produced a set of
ten posters to explain the science and evidence behind climate change,
including historical sea level rise and predicted future temperature rises.
The summary included likely long-term impacts on water resources, food
production and biodiversity. The posters were used very successfully
alongside maps, photographs and other local information on coastal
flood risk. The posters are available at www.cc2150.eu
Maps
Local people usually know their area better than any outside agency or
expert. Recognising this and finding a way of capturing this knowledge
helps develop early engagement and shows you have come to listen.
In Hampshire, UK, through an interactive workshop process this
information was used to add detail to the lines on the map that delineate
the flood zones.
When subject matter is close to
home, the unerring camera can
portray lasting truths rarely seen
with the human eye. The power
to engage is great.
Jan Marshall – member of Coastal
Futures Group
Greetings from Renesse.
A map display at the event used to form
the Coastal Futures Group.

Kent County Council used an aerial photograph, and online interactive
maps showing regeneration opportunities and flood risk data for its
three project areas. These tools are available at www.kentcc2150.org.uk
in an interactive form with a number of layers that can be combined
to customise the maps. The flood map was used to show the areas
most at risk of flooding in order to stimulate discussion around flood-
preparedness with rising sea levels and more extreme weather.
Outreach work/events
Kent County Council has engaged over 2,500 people through hosting
events such as drop-ins and workshops, and holding stalls at community
events in order to gather public opinion and raise awareness of the
project and the issues. Informational stands, promotional postcards,
maps, aerial photographs and seed packs have been used to attract
attention and provide information. Attending local events was found to
be the most effective way of engaging the community on a large scale.
They also hosted this year’s Kent’s Coastal Week with 70 events under
the theme of a changing coastline.
The Southampton and Yarmouth projects in Hampshire, UK, were focused
on two very specific flood plain areas. To ensure that every member
of the community was given the opportunity to be part of the project,
all properties in the two flood plains were visited. As well as talking
to residents, a letter and leaflet explaining the project was distributed.
The letter included a tear-off slip giving people the opportunity to supply
the project team with their details, and their preferences for the timing
of community meetings.
We need information for people
at an individual property level as
individual houses are at different
heights above the river - that's the
issue. When they know the risk to
them at a house level they can take
the appropriate measures.
Stakeholder at the workshop
Kent County Council hosting
Kent Coastal Week.
'Driest area' Quiz run by Coastal
Division, Belgium.
Case study – ‘Driest area’ Quiz run by Coastal Division, Belgium
The Coastal Division ran a quiz for local mayors of coastal towns,
or their representatives, as the introduction to a general information
evening on the Master Plan for Coastal Safety. The aim was to attract
people’s attention to the subject without giving them dry, theoretical
information. The quiz was used as a trigger to keep people awake for
the information that followed!
The quiz had 30 multiple choice questions, to test the knowledge of
the participants on the Master Plan for Coastal Safety. When the answer
was wrong, everyone saw a picture from a building or statue in that
coastal city and the water raised. At the end of the quiz, people had an
overview of which coastal cities had drowned and which didn’t even have
wet feet. The winner of the quiz got a book with pictures of the coastline.
People enjoyed the quiz: it was quite quick and they felt involved.
Afterwards, the winner mentioned his victory on his Facebook page.

Schools materials
In Lewes, UK, a local engagement group member produced lesson
plans for a local secondary school. A teacher delivered two observed
lessons in consecutive weeks for Year 8 (age 12-13) pupils that built
on pupils’ existing rivers and climate change knowledge to include long-
term adaptation.
The school is now incorporating CC2150 messages into a novel
extracurricular scheme for pupils. Volunteers in Year 8 (age 12-13) will
take part in an environmental youth programme which will develop their
awareness of the tidal processes and water catchment issues of the
Ouse basin. Two hour sessions will run five times a year with the content
developed and delivered by experts within the local authority, Lewes
Railway Land Wildlife Trust and the Environment Agency. Taking 2150
as its goal, the pilot scheme will run for two years, with the first members
handing over a baton to the next cohort and then on down the decades.
Seventeen children at Yarmouth Primary School, Hampshire, UK,
undertook a six week programme of work on flood risk. This programme
explained, how flooding and sea level rise might affect their town and
how the community might manage those risks. Educating children
was found to be an effective way to get messages across to the wider
community as they tell relatives and friends what they have learnt
at school.
In Kent, with help from CAG Consultants a school resource pack was
developed, with lesson plans that integrate climate change issues into
arts, maths, literacy and philosophy units.
In the Lewes floods of 2000,
teenagers were victims as was
the community. This programme
has shown them another way –
that we can plan, adapt and think
smart. And that in turn leads to
subtle reflection about values
and lifestyles.
Dr John Parry, member of Coastal Futures
Group and Director of Lewes Railway
Land Wildlife Trust
Pupils from Yarmouth Primary School.

Interactive sessions
In Hampshire, UK, the ‘Houses on the Shore’ activity helped children
to understand issues related to defending the coast against erosion.
In small groups, children built a house on the beach using wooden
blocks. Then, using various items, they defended the house from the
rising tide. The last house standing won!
At two of the CCATCH sites in Hampshire, UK, one activity involved
participants recording their thoughts and memories about the coast.
‘Stories of change’ were received from both first time and regular visitors,
local residents, school children, people working in the area
and professionals visiting during the launch of the project.
In the West Vlaanderen project, a visionary design workshop (‘atelier’)
was used to think about broader beaches and dykes in the future (2012
to 2050), involving a mix of architects, landscape architects, spatial
planners, members of local communities and coastal experts.
This enabled participants to work together, combining expert knowledge
and skills with practical insights and needs, within a creative setting.
The idea was to look at one challenge from multiple angles in order
to create a vision; something new, something unexpected.
Ateleier held by Province of West Vlaanderen.

The Ouse valley fly-through is
one of the best environmental
education tools I have seen for a
long time as it enables children to
start working out for themselves
some of the implications of sea
level rise. The forward planning
that the tool encourages is a much
better way of engaging interest
than frightening young people.
Dr John Parry, member of Coastal Futures
Group and Director of Lewes Railway
Land Wildlife Trust
Case study – 3D visualisations in Hampshire and the lower
Ouse valley, UK
3D visualisations have been used in two of the CC2150 projects
to powerfully communicate the realities of coastal climate change.
In the lower Ouse valley, a computer-generated 3D fly-through of the
pilot area was developed. This showed current and future sea levels
and flooding impacts in 0.5m increments. The tool is interactive,
so users can explore the potential impacts of future sea level rises
on roads, property and infrastructure. The user can also ‘fly’ the tool
to explore different places in the valley.
Similarly, in two of the Hampshire areas, fly-through 3D videos of
future flooding scenarios were developed. The fly-through model
builds on aerial photography and the predicted future flooding rates.
It enables the viewer to get a real sense of what might happen in
the future and what the impact might be. Compared to the more
traditional ‘lines on maps’ approach, it really brings the scenarios
to life.
A fly-through for the Lepe to Calshot area shows a scenario for the
current tidal water level changes and then moves 100 years into
the future to show how predicted sea level rise will increase the
flood risk. It shows the facilities at Lepe and Calshot becoming
completely inundated.
In the fly-through for the nearby Yarmouth area, a scenario was
also used based on a real flooding event that took place in 2008,
so that people were able to recognise what actually happened.
This increased the impact of the visualisations.

Visions and Action Plans
Interactive sessions
The CC2150 project aimed to generate community-led visions and action
plans for each area, as an output from the engagement process.
The ambition was that the community would be involved in drawing up
the vision and action plans and then take them forward beyond the life
of the project .
The lower Ouse valley and Kent projects worked with their local
engagement groups and wider stakeholders to generate future visions
and action plans. In both cases, these documents were the culmination
of considerable work to identify priority issues and explore adaptation
options, building on the earlier engagement process. The case study on
page 27 highlights the use of stakeholder workshops to develop the
visions and action plans in Kent.
I think the vision and action plan is going to be brilliant… It’s going
to be a topic of local conversation. It’s going to be a strong starting
point for taking things forward for the future.
Jan Marshall, Resident of Newhaven, East Sussex, UK
The West Vlaanderen project in Belgium also worked with local
stakeholders to develop a spatial vision of quality for the coast and
to undertake an adaptation study for three coastal municipalities.
The projects in Hampshire and the Netherlands used visual and creative
techniques to elicit local people’s vision for the future, while the Belgian
Coastal Division did not develop a separate vision or action plan, as
their work focussed on engagement around the existing Master Plan
for Coastal Safety. The Coastal Division is working together with West
Vlaanderen’s ICZM Coordination Centre on a vision and adaptation plan.

Several projects encountered the question as to whether a vision and
action plan developed by a group of local stakeholders would be fairly
representative of wider opinion in the area. The Kent project responded
to this issue by widely publicising the visioning and action planning
workshops and by undertaking consultation on the draft documents
emerging from the workshops. Similarly, the Hampshire project held
additional consultation events to check that priorities and actions
proposed by local stakeholder groups were supported by their wider
communities. The Hampshire project found it useful to break the vision
down into specific priorities, to communicate the ideas in ways readily
accessible to local people.
Likewise, the Environment Agency consulted the community in
publicising the vision at a number of public events, exhibitions and at
library and seafront locations as well as holding an on-line consultation.
They also held detailed workshops for their local engagement group.
Another common issue across many of the projects was that actions
needed to be ‘owned’ by local partner organisations that could carry
them forward beyond the end of the CC2150 project. For this reason,
the Renesse action plan was not a standalone document, but the project
provided resources to inform the municipality’s strategic plan. This will
be used to shape the future development of the village. Even where
a separate action plan was developed, adoption of actions by local
partners was a key aspect of CC2150’s legacy.
We have produced this vision and
action plan because of our shared
and firm conviction that we need
a local response to climate change
and sea level rise. As a community
we have the opportunity to shape
this response and influence how
our towns, villages, countryside
and coast might look in the future
and we hope this response will
recognised the needs and fears of
the vulnerable while also looking
to the opportunities that change
might bring and how our local
economy can adapt and prosper.
Coastal Futures Group, lower Ouse
Valley, East Sussex

Case study – Vision and action plans, Kent, UK
One of the biggest successes of the Kent project was the delivery
of strong visions and action plans for three different areas.
The three areas (Romney Marsh, Margate Cliftonville and the Isle
of Sheppey) have been subject to coastal change for centuries and
will continue to change, bringing new challenges and prospects for
people who live, work and visit.
The visions and supporting action plans are the culmination
of extensive engagement across each area. The CC2150 team
distributed project material to around 2,500 people, 1,500 of whom
gave direct feedback across the three areas. In addition, there were
over 3,000 hits on the Kent CC2150 online hub.
Using the information gathered throughout the engagement
activities, the CC2150 team hosted two half-day workshops in each
area, the first supported the visioning element, the second helped
to sketch out a draft action plan. The visions and action plans
were structured around priority themes specific to each area.
In addition, each addressed cross-cutting themes such as
governance, communication and funding.
In March 2014, the visions and action plans were launched at a public
event. The event highlighted and showcased activities and learning
from the project, while also giving community members from the
three areas the opportunity to share experiences.
The actions will be supported by a grant scheme sponsored by Kent
County Council. Successful bids were announced at the launch event
in March 2014. Training and support in the development of funding
applications is also being provided. During 2014 further discussions
will be held with all action partners to identify key leads and next
steps and ensure that the plans are incorporated into
wider strategies.

The Lessons Learnt report
identifies three types of learning
from CC2150:
• Collaboration learning – how
organisations across national
boundaries can work and
learn together to increase the
effectiveness of engagement.
• Delivery learning – how
organisations can best
operate to facilitate effective
engagement.
• Engagement learning – how to
work in ways to get effective
involvement at a local level.
Lessons Learnt
Summary of Report
Collaboration Learning
How the partner organisations worked together across national
boundaries has had a direct impact on how the community engagement
proceeded and the learning that has come from it. This, in some
respects, mirrors the situation in many coastal change situations where
organisations and agencies have to work together, often across borders,
to address wider systemic issues. The specific lessons for collaboration
included:
• Creating a sense of trust and openness in a partnership encourages
constructive feedback and the chance to see things from different
perspectives.
• The real value of collaboration will be realised if the partnership has
a clear remit for sharing experience and learning.
• Structure in project design is needed when delivering a complex
engagement programme, but it needs to accommodate a flexible
emergent approach when it comes to delivery.
• It is better to break complex topics down into manageable chunks of
information. For example, the lower Ouse valley project invited a series
of four expert speakers to make presentations to the local engagement
group on current coastal management, climate science, adaptation
and options for the future.
• Engagement always takes longer than you think.
Partners in Dunkerque.

Delivery Learning
Government agencies, local authorities, consultancies and academic
institutions have all been involved in CC2150. The lessons for delivery
from the experience of these very different organisations included:
• ‘Internal Stakeholders’ need to be included in the stakeholder analysis
and channels of communication with them need to be developed.
• The implications of the ‘enabling’ role (i.e. working ‘with’ communities
rather than ‘for’ them) need to be carefully considered, ensuring that
the flexible and creative responses required can be specified in job
descriptions, consultant briefs and tendering processes.
• Stakeholder analysis needs to involve a range of interested parties
and to be an ongoing process.
• Time invested early on in communicating with local politicians helps
to avoid challenges to the process later on.
• Communities need to be engaged on their terms and on issues seen
from their perspective.
• Time is needed to develop local relationships. Engagement needs
to work on a ‘person to person’ level as well as an ‘organisation
to community’ level to be really effective.
• Projects need to start planning for legacy from the start.
Engagement Learning
Partners adopted a wide range of approaches to their engagement based
on organisational priorities and local circumstances. From this rich mix
a number of common lessons are identified, including:
• Set clear expectations from the start about what the project can
and cannot achieve and don’t be afraid to review these expectations
regularly.
• Developing an understanding of future change is critical but often
difficult to achieve. People want to engage on the current issues and
are most interested in practical action. However, by building from
understanding of the current situation and using the techniques
summarised above, this ‘oversight’ can potentially be developed.
• Time and resources need to be allocated in the early stages of the
engagement process in order to develop a common level of knowledge.
• Climate change is a challenging topic to engage on but it is possible to
engage on the impacts of that change – coastal erosion and flooding.
• Engagement needs to be fun and informative.
Charlotte Devriendt engaging with
children at the final conference.
It takes a long time to engage
effectively with communities.
It is less about the money and
more about spending quality
officer time with the community.
This is where the budgets should
be allocated.
Solent Forum, Hampshire

Practical Guide
Collaboration Learning
The two-volume Practical Guide is aimed at individuals and groups who
are concerned about coastal change issues and want to engage their
local community on these issues. It will also be useful to organisations
seeking to work with these communities.
The ideas in the guide come from good practice and learning from
the CC2150 project. The guide is structured as a journey through the
following steps involved in engaging the community on coastal change
issues:
1. How to explain why coastal change matters
2. How to get started
3. How to set up an engagement group
4. How to build engagement
a. Make it fun
b. Go out to people, rather than expecting them to come to you
c. Think about how best to reach your target group
d. Encourage community ownership of engagement methods
e. Take a long-term view
5. How to choose engagement tools
6. How to get help, support, funding
7. How to do adaptation actions
8. How to move on
Each chapter of the guide provides an overview of the topic and refers
to case studies and resources from the CC2150 project, as well as other
sources of information. Additional case studies are presented in Volume
2 and additional resources and sources of information are signposted
throughout both volumes.
1. How to explain why coastal
change matters
2. How to get started
3. How to set up an
engagement group
4. How to build engagement
5. How to choose
engagement tools
6. How to get help,
support and funding
7. How to do adaptation actions
8. How to move on

Communication and Dissemination
Some partners felt that the most useful events were small or medium-
sized meetings, where community members could discuss issues in
depth. Drop-in sessions tended not to attract adequate numbers, unless
located in high footfall areas. But the lower Ouse valley project held an
initial drop-in meeting which was well-attended and highly successful,
thanks to extensive publicity and networking with key contacts prior to
the event.
Local level
Communication and dissemination of information formed an important
part of all the local projects. This was undertaken primarily through face
to face events, but also through use of traditional local media, social
media, websites and feedback forms.
Each of the projects ran a few large events, involving more than 50
participants. Medium-sized events, attracting 10-50 people, tended to be
best attended if they were held at existing events or in places with high
footfall. Many of the smaller events involving less than 10 people were
regular meetings of the ‘local engagement group’ comprising key local
stakeholders. For example, Hampshire’s small events included meetings
with members of the local engagement groups in each of their 6 project
areas, while West Vlaanderen’s small meetings included 10 meetings
with each of the three coastal municipalities. In addition to the meetings
listed here, many one-to-one meetings were held across all the projects.
Partner Large Medium Small
Environment Agency (UK) 5 20 50
Kent County Council (UK) 2 15 55
Hampshire County Council (UK) 9 37 16
Alterra (NL) 1 5 3
Province West-Vlaanderen
(Coordination Centre on Integrated
Coastal Zone Management) (BE)
1 11 48
Agency for Maritime and Coastal
Services – Coastal Division (BE)
1 2 2
Figure: Number of CC2150 engagement events held

Several partners recommended use of existing networks and attendance
at meetings run by existing community organisations, as part of their
outreach work. But all project partners also made use of well-publicised
single-purpose workshops for key events, such as the development
of visions and action plans. These were very successful.
Local project websites were widely used for disseminating information,
with examples including www.kentcc2150.org.uk. But comments tended
to be captured at face-to-face events rather than through completion
of online or paper feedback forms. Social media played a less important
role than expected.
EU project level
In addition to the local project activity, communication and dissemination
was undertaken at CC2150 project level. Nine partner workshops were
held including:
• Project Launch workshop 1 (Oostende) April 2011
• Workshop 2 (Brighton) August 2011
• Workshop 3 (Worthing) December 2011
• Workshop 4 (Margate) March 2012
• Workshop 5 (Oostende, Belgium) June 2012
• Workshop 6 (Renesse, Netherlands) October 2012
• Workshop 7 (Southampton) March 2013
• Workshop 8 (Portsmouth) July 2013
• Workshop 9 (Dunkerque, France) October 2013
Cross-project events were also held for European Territorial Co-operation
Day in Oostende, in September 2012. The Closing Conference was held
in Brighton in February 2014, attended by partners and a wide range of
other stakeholders from within and outside the project.
Project level documents published by the project include:
• Mid-Term Review January 2013
• Lessons Learnt Report and Practical Guide February 2014
• Final and Communications Report June 2014
These and other project outputs are available online at www.cc2150.eu

Closing Conference
On 12 February 2014 over one hundred delegates from the Netherlands,
Belgium, France, Denmark and the United Kingdom gathered at the
Thistle Hotel, Brighton for the CC2150 closing conference.
This highly successful event celebrated the outputs from the three-year
CC2150 project. It gave partners the opportunity to share good practice
and lessons learnt with other interested parties and stakeholders.
On the evening before the conference, there was a networking event
and a demonstration of the lower Ouse valley interactive 3D
visualisation tool.
There were three keynote speakers at the main conference:
Lord Chris Smith, Chairman of the Environment Agency, spoke about the
importance of face-to-face engagement with communities and working
with them rather than telling them what to do.
Andre Jol, Head of Group Vulnerability and Adaptation from the European
Environment Agency, spoke about the challenges and opportunities
of adapting to long-term climate change from a European and strategic
perspective. He explained the importance of better-informed decision-
making and that many cities in Europe had already developed adaptation
plans, citing Hamburg as an example.
Finally, Jamie Clark, Director of COIN (Climate Outreach Information
Network) spoke about practical ways of communicating coastal and
climate change messages to communities. He explained that effective
communications should be fun, empowering and positive, and based
on talking to your audience; understanding and speaking to their shared
values; offering a reward (of belonging); and reinforcing people's
sense of identity.
Lord Chris Smith.

‘The Story of CC2150’ was presented by three of the six project partners,
representing the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands.
They began by explaining the project objectives, as set out in the original
bid back in 2009/2010, followed by what each Partner was undertaking
to deliver these objectives.
A number of Partner stakeholders were then given the opportunity
to speak about CC2150 from their perspective and their involvement
in creating their own local vision and action plans.
There were also a number of awards presented to stakeholders from all
Partner areas for their outstanding contribution to the CC2150 project.
The conference also hosted a Marketplace where Partners held market
stalls displaying their project tools and presenting their findings and
experiences whilst working on CC2150. Delegates visited a number
of stalls, which were split into five themes:
• Overcoming Barriers to Engagement
• Creating a Local Vision
• Stakeholder Analysis and Risk Profiling Methods
• Communication and Engagement Tools
• Action Planning with Communities
There was also a further opportunity to look at the 3D visualisation tool
in more detail.
Conference market stall displaying tools used for action planning with communities.
Awards presentation.

Representatives from the Joint Technical Secretariat, the Project
funding body, attended the conference. Tim Caulfield, their Project
Unit Co-ordinator, took the opportunity to talk about the next round of
partnership funding to be made available through INTERREG V and the
themes linked to this. The calls for proposals were due to be
published shortly.
Delegates were provided with copies of a number of reports from the
Project, including the Practical Guide and the Lessons Learnt reports.
Representatives from CAG Consultants and Resources4change who had
been involved in the production of these documents spoke about how
they had sourced the information from project Partners and stakeholders
and pulled it together in the final format.
Having spoken about the success of the CC2150 Project it was important
to explain about the legacy and how all of the good work could be
carried forward.
An idea for such a legacy was a youth initiative suggested by Dr John
Parry from the Lewes Railway Land Wildlife Trust, a member of the
Coastal Futures Group.
Working with students from the Priory School in Lewes and Ringmer
Community College, a core group of well-informed young people would
work alongside experts for a period of two years to carry on the good
work of CC2150. At the end of two years a baton would be passed on
to a new set of like-minded students and so it would continue.
A key event of the conference was the ceremonial handing over of the
baton to a number of students. The baton has a hollow centre which
contains a memory stick for the sharing of information by the students
and a signed pledge from all six partners from the CC2150 Project
supporting the initiative.
Outputs from the Project will also be used as part of the PRiME-C Cluster,
which is described on page 40.
Members of the first Environmental Youth
Initiative with the baton at the Closing
Conference in Brighton.

Legacy Arrangements
Most of the project partners will continue to be involved in supporting the
local CC2150 communities in some form. The Coastal Division in Belgium
will continue engagement work on the Master Plan for Coastal Safety,
while the Province of West-Vlaanderen will continue to support work on
the vision for the coast. In the UK, Hampshire and Kent County Councils
remain committed to increasing climate resilience within their coastal
communities, including the CC2150 project areas. And the Environment
Agency will continue to have both flooding and resilience responsibilities
within the lower Ouse valley and elsewhere.
More specifically, the CC2150 project has generated tools, visualisations,
schools material and other resources, as well as guidance documents,
which are freely available (via the web) to potential users. It has built
awareness and understanding of coastal and climate change and has
also developed partnership working and stakeholder relationships at
a local level and at a programme level. These relationships will form the
basis of the PRiME-C cluster (see page 40) and for future partnership
working under INTERREG VA 2 Seas.
In addition to this, the project has generated a number of specific
legacy actions:
• A twinning arrangement to investigate a student exchange,
has been set up between the Priory secondary school in Lewes
in the lower Ouse valley and Pontes Pieter Zeeman school in Zierikzee
in the Netherlands.
• The primary school in Renesse is considering incorporating an
image/art competition about the coastal future of Renesse into their
curriculum. The competition would probably be part of the curriculum
of the next school year (after summer 2014).
• An Environmental Youth Initiative group has been established in Lewes
that will teach adaption to climate change and pass on the baton
through successive groups of young people for 150 years.
It is good to see that much of
the work we have done over the
past three years is now very
pertinent. Local authorities
can see the benefit of coastal
communities taking action to
secure their own futures. Through
our work in CC2150 our pilot
communities understand more
about climate change and have
become empowered to take
better decisions about how they
can adapt to future risks and
opportunities.
Environment Agency
A new generation enjoying life
on the coast.

• The University of Brighton will provide two years of secretarial support
to the local engagement group in the lower Ouse valley, which will
enable the group to remain active for this time.
• In Hampshire, the Itchen community now runs its own flood awareness
website without external help. Further implementation of adaption
measures will also continue in the Itchen, as part of the Belsize Flood
Resillience Project, led by the local authority (a Pathfinder project
won as a result of Hampshire’s work under CC2150).
• In Kent, facilitation training was provided to a number of individuals
to better enable the development of groups that were engaged in the
project.
• Kent County Council has run a community grant scheme to fund four
bids arising from the action plans, across its three project areas.
These will cover 22 of the proposed actions.
• Kent County Council is also proposing to train community
representatives in fundraising skills, to improve their access to other
sources of funding.
• The Environment Agency are getting their local town and parish
councils to adopt the Waking up to tomorrow vision and action plan.
The plan has also been used to inform neighbourhood plans so that
climate change issues are properly addressed in the future.
The projects’ longer term legacy is more challenging. Most partners
agree that there has been an increase in awareness of climate or coastal
change issues within their local communities. There are signs that some
aspects of project activity are being integrated into the mainstream
activities of local organisations. For example, in Renesse, the local
municipal authority is looking to use the information generated via the
project in their planning for the local area. Similarly, in Kent, agreed
actions will be embedded within the plans of local organisations. In the
longer term, this is likely to be the main route through which CC2150’s
legacy is maintained.
The baton of the environmental youth
initiative on its base, showing the
route of the River Ouse and its historic
settlements.

Some of the key successes of the CC2150 project are highlighted by
partners below:
• Lower Ouse valley: CC2150 has been successful in giving the local
engagement group members the confidence to promote the project
messages; engaging with all of the groups that they set out to engage;
and producing tools that will have a life beyond the end of the project.
The local engagement group not only promoted CC2150’s work but
also ran their own events.
• Province West-Vlaanderen, Belgium: The Province of West-Vlaanderen
felt that the main project successes were the study on the spatial
aesthetics in three municipalities, the two ‘atelier’ design workshops,
and the development of a coastal vision. Province West-Vlaanderen
also learned from working together with project partners, in particular
how they work in the Netherlands, how the UK deals with stakeholder
engagement, and how spatial planning works in other countries. They
found the project itself a useful partnership.
• Kent: The biggest successes were the number of people engaged,
the number of events held, the delivery of three strong visions and
action plans and established a strong legacy for the project.
• Hampshire: The biggest successes were working with Yarmouth
Primary School, working with the community on task and finish
groups, and developing the flood visualisation models.
• Renesse: Major successes were getting local residents and business
enthusiastic and inspired by the CC2150 work and message (‘using the
landscape to make your area future proof’); joining the PRiME-C Cluster
project which enables Altera to extend its work with the local Renesse
community; and contributing to the twinning of secondary schools
between Lewes and Zierikzee.
• Coastal Division, Belgium: The main achievement has been starting
the journey towards greater stakeholder engagement. Already this
is beginning to increase the number of people coming to events,
the number of questions by email and number of website hits.
At a recent exhibition, the kind of questions asked showed increased
public awareness of the Master Plan for Coastal Safety.
Key Outcomes

Benefits of working together in CC2150
Project partners have benefitted greatly by working together. It has
proved fascinating to explore how different counties deal with similar
coastal problems and partners have learnt and understood many things
by sharing their knowledge.
Cross-border working has now spread outside of CC2150, with
Partners visiting events in each other’s regions. The Environment
Agency attended a Coastal Safety and Risk Management Conference in
Belgium, while the Province West-Vlaanderen has worked closely with
the Région Nord-Pas de Calais, having discovered that they share many
similar issues and potential solutions to spatial planning problems.
These are just two examples of the excellent working relationships
established within the partnership. The twinning of a UK and Dutch
school has led to English teachers visiting the Netherlands and they
are now planning a formal exchange between their pupils. This exciting
prospect is a wonderful bonus from CC2150!
Partners have also worked with many other Projects, such as Living
with a Changing Coast (LiCCo), Future Cities, Flood Aware, C-SCOPE
and many more. Going forward, the PRiME-C Cluster includes four of
the six CC2150 partners and we look forward to sharing our results and
outcomes with the other partners and projects.
Project partners with delegates at closing conference.

PRiME-C
The PRiME-C cluster will pull together learning from a range of INTERREG
projects related to risk management in ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zone
Management). Several of the CC2150 partners (Kent County Council,
the Environment Agency, Alterra, Gemeente Schouwen-Duiveland (for
Renesse) and Province West-Vlaanderen) will be involved in PRiME-C,
taking forward the learning from CC2150 and sharing it with a range of
other INTERREG projects on coastal risk management issues.
PRiME-C partners recognise that coastal zones are under continuous and
increasing pressure on account of population density and the wealth
of coastal resources. Many sectors are competing within this vital space
while experiencing stalled socio-economic growth. In addition, the
2 Seas region is being impacted by coastal and climate change and their
associated risks (such as rising sea levels, extreme weather, flooding
and changing habitats). ICZM principles suggest that if these experiences
were consolidated and best practices adopted holistically then the
2 Seas region will be better placed to reduce its exposure to risks and
increasingly realise opportunities.
The PRiME-C cluster will capitalise on nine INTERREG projects:
Six 2 Seas projects (CC2150, C-SCOPE, RINSE, ARCH-MANCHE, FUSION,
TRANSCOAST) and three others being funded by other ETC Programmes:
IVA France (Channel) England – LiCCo; IVB North West Europe –
GIF-T; IV C – NOSTRA.
INTERREG VA 2 Seas
The strong working relationships established by CC2150 and PRiME-C are
likely to form the basis of further partnership bids under the INTERREG VA
2 Seas programme. The Priority Axis 3 on ‘Adapting to Climate Change’
is particularly relevant to the work of CC2150 partners.
Taking it Forward
PRiME-C
PRiME-C.

The Coastal Communities 2150 Project was funded by the INTERREG IV
A 2-Seas Programme. Particular thanks go to Edouard Gatineau, Wilde
Petrone and Anita Bungaroo from the Joint Technical Secretariat for their
advice and guidance during the life of the Project.
CC2150 has received excellent support from numerous local community
and stakeholder representatives especially the Partners’ local
engagement groups and Municipalities/Local Authorities.
Acknowledgements
With thanks to our partners:
Pantone®
Quadrichromie
PANTONE®
288 C
PANTONE®
7409 C
C 100 -
M 85 35
J - 100
N - -
R 27 247
V 56 173
B 146 -

La Pointe aux Oies (©Eric Desaunois).
Environment first
This report is printed on Revive
– a recycled paper using 100
per cent previously used waste.
Published by Environment Agency
www.cc2150.eu
Telephone: +44 (0)3708 506 506

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