geographygeeks

Thursday, 8 September 2011

Hadleigh websites/ references

Here are some useful websites which will provide you with some useful information surrounding Hadleigh.

The Hadleigh Society: http://www.hadsoc.org.uk/hadsoc/index.htm

Hands off Hadleigh: http://www.hands-off-hadleigh.co.uk/

Tesco application: http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/hadleigh_tesco_store_application_is_refused_1_954038

Action for Market Towns: http://towns.org.uk/

Creating the Greenest County: http://www.greensuffolk.org/

Hadleigh Community: http://www.hadleighpeople.co.uk/home

Transition Towns UK: http://www.transitionnetwork.org/ http://www.transitionnetwork.org/

Community Energy Toolkit: http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/shared-energy-toolkit

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

We often visit our local town of Hadleigh. The normal focus is to decide whether Hadleigh is a successful 'home town'; a good traditional high street with lots of independent shops and fewer chain (or clone) shops. We are all quite fond of Hadleigh; it has a certain quirkiness about it which makes it feel quintessentially English and everyone is very friendly. However, as with all these things, there are circumstances which may threaten this independent and traditional community.

It is worth considering factors such as the ongoing proposal to build a Tesco supermarket on the banks of the River Brett behind the High Street. It is also worth considering that Hadleigh is a mere 8 miles from the out-of-town retail park at Copdock. Hadleigh is also only 10 miles from the large town of Ipswich, which has a service centre serving most of north, east and mid Suffolk. However, with these factors it is undeniable that Hadleigh is still a rural setting and obviously has all the pros and cons of being such.

Importantly Hadleigh is in the county of Suffolk (not the Essex one!) and is fairly empathetic to the local government initiative of 'creating the greenest county' (http://www.greensuffolk.org/). Many of you will be aware of the transition town movement (http://www.transitionnetwork.org/) and it's aims; Hadleigh did consider joining this network but in the end decided to go down the independent route with 'Greener Hadleigh'. Unfortunately I haven't been very successful in finding a specific web page for this cause :( however, I do know that they are very good at organising events to try and encourage the participation in local food purchasing and attempts to keep carbon footprints low.

The thing that we are particularly interested in is the production and purchasing of food products locally. Hadleigh has 2 butchers, a farm shop, a small co op, a local hardware store as well as many local hairdressers, tea shops, newsagents and so on. So, how can we see whether Hadleigh is a clone town, or a home town? The NEF (New Economics Foundation) have written a very simple, but effective, technique of establishing this (http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/images/text/FW_clone_survey.pdf). Try it on your home town to compare to Hadleigh!

Whatever 21st century developments threaten the traditional high street it is lovely to see that whichever day of the week you visit Hadleigh there is always lots going on. It is without a doubt a high street that is supported by the local community, and this is evident by the numbers entering the independent shops on a regular basis.

I shall add some more about this at a later date....
Rachael

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

The Crag Walk

Lots of exciting things have been happening at Walton on the Naze this year. We found ourselves unable to go onto the unmanaged section of beach last autumn, which meant a sudden u-turn in what we were able to measure down there! However, for us Geographers to be able to witness such 'Geography in Action' was extremely exciting :)
So... why couldn't we get on the beach? There was a new piece of management being built!
So, we have watched this happen over the year (it wasn't entirely finished last time I was down there so there might be more to come).
Again, a photographic record gives you a much better idea than me rambling on.... :P

the unmanaged beach before

the sea attacking the base of the cliffs

cliff rotational slumping

the original management - nothing!

the wave cut platform of London Clay

starting work on the Crag Walk -

new Rip Rap

extending the end of the sea wall

work in progress

from on top of the cliff

placing the Rip Rap strategically

erosion has always been an issue

From what I can work out the Crag Walk is going to act as an anchor to the base of the cliff. It has been built parallel to the cliff, with about a 10m section of beach still behind it. I think that as the cliff slumps it will be stabilised by the Crag Walk, thus meaning that the cliff shouldn't slump much further. This will then (hopefully) save the Naze Tower from going over (that's the aim anyway!).I still haven't uploaded my latest photos but when I do I shall add them on here.

Rachael

Saturday, 13 August 2011

'Happisburgh' useful references...

There's a lot of great stuff on the internet, so I have created a reference list (of things that I found, there might be more!)

Happisburgh Village website: http://www.happisburgh.org/

Coastal Concern Action Group website: http://www.happisburgh.org.uk/

there's loads of really good stuff on here - especially relating to how the community are responding to coastal erosion problems.

http://www.happisburgh.org.uk/campaign/history a useful page of this website!

The Pathfinder project are the people with the money!

http://www.northnorfolk.org/pathfinder/happisburgh.asp

this website gives lots of really useful information regarding what projects are happening in the local area.

A very useful article regarding the geology of the local area:

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/landslides/happisburgh.html

there's also some very good photos on this page, as well as some hints regarding the processes influencing the speed of erosion.

An excellent website with some suberb images and annotations from a fellow Geographer:

http://www.stacey.peak-media.co.uk/Happisburgh/HappisburghMay2011/HappisburghMay2011.htm

some newspaper articles about the people effected by the crumbling cliffs:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/3186425.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/3358015.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/4635339.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/dec/03/homes2

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2003/jan/26/movinghouse.property

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3337466/Watery-grave-that-waits-for-Happisburgh.html

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/picture_last_resident_of_happisburgh_s_doomed_beach_road_1_884051

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-13209249

and so the residents are attempting to do something about this themselves:

http://www.buyarockforhappisburgh.com/

other useful resources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/funstuff/360/happisburgh_clifftop.shtml

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detail.html?outcode=NR12&incode=&streetName=Beach+Road&locality=Happisburgh&country=england&buildType=1&propertyType=0&yearSelection=20&columnToSort=DEED_DATE&sortOrder=ascending&summaryIndex=0

some video links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/senseofplace/coastal_video.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YQPW41LWTU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSBOt_c1eWk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/living-with-coastal-erosion-in-happisburgh-east-anglia-pt-1-2/7361.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/living-with-coastal-erosion-in-happisburgh-east-anglia-pt-2-2/7364.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmeKnHWpZTA In fact there’s loads on YouTube! Just type in 'Happisburgh'

useful aerial photos:

http://www.norfolkskyview.flyer.co.uk/

happy internet hunting - hopefully this is a good start for you :)

Rachael

to protect or not protect?

This week I travelled to North Norfolk (technically – although it’s more like East Norfolk!) to visit Happisburgh on a reci for a potential fieldwork site. The students are looking into whether it is worth protecting a certain stretch of coastline, and Happisburgh is their chosen focus. Well, some may say that it’s too late to be discussing such a thing as the cliffs are retreating at such an alarming rate! Some attempt has been made to stop the slumping and undercutting, but mostly this seems to have just slowed processes but not stopped them.

here is a photographic record of my day!