An Assessment of UK Heritage Coasts in South Wales: J A Steers revisited

WILLIAMS, A.T., SELLERS, V., and PHILIPS, M.R. 2007. An Assessment of UK Heritage Coasts in South Wales: J A Steers revisited. Journal of Coastal Research, SI 50 (Proceedings of the 9th International Coastal Symposium), 453 – 458. Gold Coast, Australia, ISBN 0749.0208 Much of the South Wales, UK coastline is designated as Heritage Coasts, based upon coastal scenic evaluations conducted in 1944-46, by Professor J. A. STEERS. He utilised a four category scale: ‘Exceptional’, ‘Very Good’, ‘Good’ and ‘Undeveloped’ (called ‘Poor’). Stretches of coastline rated in the top two categories subsequently became the first 27 Heritage Coasts. The boundary for Heritage/non-Heritage status lies between the ‘Good’ and ‘Very Good’ categories, i.e. the median of this scale. The methodology relied on subjective judgment and did not relate to scenic preferences of actual coastal users. At 14 locations, the current study compared Steers’ evaluations with a new scenic assessment technique using fuzzy logic based on a checklist of the main scenic coastal parameters deemed important by beach users. Results can be differentiated into 5 Classes by a dimensionless Decision parameter (D) value, calculated from checklist assessment attributes, which are weighted and subjected to fuzzy logic analysis. The checklist median was Class 3, with a D midpoint value of 0.53. If the Steers’ scenic assessment was accurate, all Heritage Coast areas should have a D value >0.53. Only three anomalies were found. Furthermore, Heritage Coast beach D values, were significantly higher than that for nonHeritage Coast beaches (t = 4.559; df = 12; p < 0.01). ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: Checklists, Fuzzy logic