Beach consequences of an industrial heritage: future opportunities for Scotland and Wales, UK?

Consequences of an industrial heritage are described for three east Scotland (Leven, Dysart, and Kirkcaldy) and three South Wales (Swansea, Aberafan and Llanelli) beaches, where significant impacts of past industries have reduced scenic quality and amenity. These six beaches were scenically evaluated by utilisation of a checklist of 26 selected parameters that were subsequently subjected to a fuzzy logic systems approach. Results showed that all were Class 5 and complied with definitions of the classification, that is, “very unattractive urban sites with intensive development and low landscape value”. However, even within this classification beaches can exhibit desirable characteristics and management options were considered to improve low scoring human parameters. Redevelopment of Swansea started in the 1980s culminating in the executive business and residential development of SA1. The former industrial landscape of the Llanelli coastline is currently undergoing regeneration in the hope of becoming a leading tourism destination and Aberafan is similarly reinventing itself with residential and commercial development. Regeneration focused around the Welsh beaches has been successful and there have been considerable economic benefits. Consequently, similar strategies were suggested for Kirkcaldy, Leven and Dysart.