Restoration of the Mawddach Estuary

Client - Countryside Council for Wales

Study to explore the potential for restoring the Mawddach Estuary back to as natural a state as possible. The study investigated the potential for initiating estuarine restoration by focusing on locations where existing sea defences were in a state of disrepair, and restoration could be achieved by means of managed coastal realignment, i.e. opening up existing sea defences to allow tidal inundation of the reclaimed land protected by these structures, and establishment of a new sea defence to maintain protection of key features where necessary. The study included a cost-benefit analysis and investigation of potential funding mechanisms for the proposed scheme.