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This page was updated on 27th June 2026.

3rd February 2026 - the storm that breached the A379 road and damaged properties at Torcross.

19th March 2026 - an Environment Ageny representative appeared on a Spotlight evening news feature on coastal problems stating that rock armour (boulders) will be placed on the beach below the steel piling sea wall at Torcross.
COMMENT: No detail provided, just a casual remark at the end of a television interview.

12th May 2026 - Caroline Voaden MP announces that the Environment Agency have agreed a budget of £18.9 million to place rock armour (boulders) in front of the steel piling sea wall at Torcross. This will be from the access steps at the Southern end to the slipway at the Northern end. It will be an urgent mitigation to be in place before the winter storms.
COMMENT: Apart from bare details, no sign of any real specification (as at 2026.05.13).
Boulders have been tipped for over 20 years along the seaward side of the Slapton Shingle Ridge. They haven't provided any sustainable defence against winter storms, rather they assist sediment movement towards the Nearshore Zone. There is no mention yet for any money to relocate the A379 road further inland. An absolute necessity for tens of thousands of South Devon tax payers, not to mention seasonal visitors. No one can predict when the next severe winter storm will wreak havoc at Torcross and along the A379 road, but it is inevitable.
The £18,900,000 would be better spent on relocating Torcross properties and businesses slightly inland onto solid ground. Of the fifty, approximately, properties on the Shingle Ridge very few are lived in all year round. Many are holiday homes or holiday lets.
The Shingle Ridge is a natural feature that needs to respond dynamically to weather and tidal events. It can no longer respond when it is cluttered with reflective and stiffening structures.
Recent studies have shown that there is no shortage of Shingle sediment in this part of Start Bay, but anthropogenic activity is inhibiting the Shingle Ridge from performing it's natural function. The Shingle Ridge is supposed to be in a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Spending tax payers money on more lorries, diggers and bulldozers does not appear to be a sustainable solution. Natural processes must be allowed to maintain the Shingle Ridge.

26th May 2026 (Bank Holiday Monday) Hundreds of local residents walked the coastal footpath, and the remains of the storm damaged A379 road, towards Torcross to protest at the lack of progress with reinstating the road. Both BBC and ITV filmed the campaign walk and estimated the crowd at more than 400. Some of the walkers were interviewed. Local businesses claimed that loss of the road has reduced their income by over 20%. Opinions voiced ranged between reinstating the damaged road and relocating an A class road route further inland.

30th June 2026 Public exhibition, at Stokenham, of Government poroposals
The Drop-in event was staffed by Environment Agency, Devon County Council, South Hams District Council, an engineering construction company. All had Display Boards. There were a number of caveats and references to the fact that there could be changes to what was printed on the Display Boards.
COMMENT: Uninspiring, unscientific, far from reassuring. There was no evidence that the reason for the many breaches in the Shingle Ridge over the last 25 years had been analysed objectively. Somewhere, possibly Whitehall, had decided that rock armour was to be placed on the seaward side of the steel piling at Torcross. No attention to the consequences of such an action.
As has been noticed from the 400 walkers a few weeks ago, the great majority of people want of an A-class road to be replaced. Many realise that continuing to throw boulders onto a dynamic shingle ridge is counter-productive, but some of the officers on duty were still uttering the Whitehall phrase of "holding the line".
The word "strengthen" was used in the advertisement for this event (see Left). This demonstrates clearly that Whitehall has little understanding of sea defences on dynamic shingle ridges. There are many beaches around Britain where government has used public money to install rock armour. It is often regarded as a cheap methodology. On beaches with less dynamic sediment structures, particularly on solid bed rock foundations, rock armour has been employed to reflect and provide some attenuation of wave energy. However, it has a limited lifespan as boulders are regularly displaced. It is not a sustainable methodology. Natural beaches are the best sea defence for a coastline.
In the case of Slapton Shingle Ridge, which is composed of a large amount of mobile sediment to depths of over fifteen metres, the 3.5 kilometre length was fully dynamic until the late 19th Century. Attempts to stiffen or "strengthen" the many millions of tons of loose material is actually preventing the ridge from responding to wave action, particularly in times of extreme storms. The A379 road and its hardcore base has been responsible for stiffening the whole structure, and is responsible for much reflectivity, which leads to scour.
As for lack of scientific analysis; no two beaches around the World are identical. Copying sea defence methodology from one coastal site to another is fraught with problems. Site specific scientific analysis is essential to identify the many processes that are operating, and interacting with one another. Cross-shore processes are particularly important in this context.
The approach of many engineering organisations is inappropriate. Turning up with big machinery and unspecified materials, then proceeding to apply untested techniques is a recipe for unexpected results. The Slapton Shingle Ridge has already seen 25 years of boulder tipping. Remnants are still visible, and are respnsible for some of the severe damage caused in February 2026. Reflectivity and scour are massively increased in times of extreme wave events.

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