Climate change is affecting Scotland now. Adaptation planning is essential to safeguard our communities and assets.

The Scottish Government has committed £11.7m to support local authorities in developing Coastal Change Adaptation plans. New guidance is published here to support local authorities through this process.


Coastal Change Adaptation Guidance

The Scottish Government has developed interim guidance to support local authorities in the preparation of Coastal Change Adaptation Plans.

These plans attempt to go further than Shoreline Management Plans, by considering the adaptation required to safeguard our coastal communities and assets as our climate and coast continues to change.

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Dynamic Coast research anticipates coastal erosion to increase under all emissions scenarios. So, both adaptation and mitigation are essential and urgent activities.

Local Authorities are expected to receive £11.7m of funding to develop Coastal Change Adaptation Plans and to undertake resilience and adaptation actions, using Nature-based approaches wherever possible.

In 2022-23 £1.6m has been allocated to ten coastal local authorities with the most assets at risk.

In 2023-24 £1.85m has been provisionally agreed for remaining coastal local authorities.

In 2023-24 £550k is expected to be shared in support of local case-studies to help advance our understanding of coastal change adaptation.

Funding for 2024-25 and 2025-26 is yet to be allocated.


Case Studies

Eight case studies are being funded (2023-24) to support, explore and learn how to undertake coastal change adaptation across Scotland.

Some explore community engagement aspects, whilst other are using the latest technology to inform trigger points and guide adaptation actions.

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Funding may also be available to support these actions from:

To find out more about adaptation see Adaptation Scotland or contact the Dynamic Coast team.