Yes it's certainly an interesting area to work in, for me at least. A variety of beach in terms of material, morphology and defences. Unfortunately I don't go quite as far as Chesil, I think Plymouth Coastal Observatory cover up to Portland Bill. Yep there's a lot going on around the Isle or Wight and we are often asked by the council there to take on extra surveys, for example at Totland there has been a big landslide which has pushed out the sea wall, so we monitor that landslide. Barton-on-Sea is another interesting area in terms of cliff erosion and landslides. I'm in charge of the Christchurch bay region and organised a post storm survey down at Hurst spit which took a real battering by the recent storms. A lot of cutting back and over washing and a lot of material 'lost' or rather moved off shore. The high pressure following the storm pushes the tide up higher then it would usually have been and it was this that caused a lot of the damage rather then the storm itself.
The position varies from place to place but money is tight and so where possible the coastal system is left alone. There are obvious exceptions like Bournemouth beach, from Hengistbury Head down to Poole Harbour which is heavily defended with groynes and more so with beach recharge, without which there wouldn't be any beach left! There is also the need to maintain coastal areas that provide habitats, and an area that you might have heard in the local news is Medmerry beach down at Selsey. Rather then let nature do it's thing there the powers that be have decided managed realignment can kill two birds with one stone. They've cut through the gravel barrier and created a system of channels and pools for the sea to come through and encourage the development of mud flats and eventually saltmarshes. This should act as a natural barrier to the sea while also creating habitat that are lost elsewhere on the south coast to defended areas and areas where no active intervention is deemed necessary.
