Catalogue description Welsh Office: Environment Division: Welsh Coastal Survey Database

Hardware: IBM or compatible PCs.

Operating System: Microsoft DOS for Windows.

Application Software: DataEase (believed to be version 4.5).

User Interface: The Coastal Survey - Wales database could be accessed by a limited number of users within the Welsh Office using networked PCs. The system allowed data to be displayed in a tabular or a report form for each file in the database. Queries and print outs were also possible.

Logical structure and schema: The dataset consists of two tables linked in a 1:1 relationship: Gen_serv (corresponding to the General Level of Service Survey), and Condits (covering the Condition and Maintenance Survey).

How data was originally captured and validated: Flood and Coastal Defence Branch staff began by compiling the General Level of Service Survey, using data from the following sources:

• The Coast Protection Act 1949: Report of Survey (Wales), previously published by the Welsh Office.
• Surveys carried out by other organisations, including the Sea Defence Survey and British Rail surveys.
• Information supplied by maritime local authorities. A letter and survey form to gather data on coast protection defences was initially sent to local authorities in November 1992.
• Additional data and knowledge within Flood and Coastal Defence Branch.

Drafts of the GLS were sent to maritime local authorities for comments, and the database was modified in light of their responses. Flood and Coastal Defence Branch then compiled the Condition and Maintenance Survey on the basis of the GLS, and using the same sources of information. These were supplemented by site visits by Welsh Office staff, where significant gaps in the data were identified. These visits were also used to conduct sample checks on data provided from other major sources, in order to establish a consistency of approach and a standardisation of the subjective data collected. A draft of the CMS and a final draft of the GLS were issued to maritime local authorities and to the Environment Agency for comments.

The Coastal Survey - Wales database as maintained by the Welsh Office was dynamic, i.e. data was entered into the database as it was received.

Constraints on the reliability of the data: In both the Gen_serv and Condits tables, information in the Owner field (relating to the ownership of land behind a coastal length) is sometimes missing or is entered as uncertain. There are more gaps in the fields which are unique to the Condition and Maintenance Survey: e.g. in Condits the Year_Const (year constructed), Last_Refurb (year last refurbished), Crest_Ht (crest height) and Survey_Date (survey date). Both the General Level of Service Survey and Condition and Maintenance Survey tables allow more than one type of coastal defence to be recorded for a length of coast. The Gen_serv table allows for up to two types of protection per length, while the Condits table has fields for up to four types of protection. The database did not, however, allow for the recording of more specific information about each type of protection beyond the fact that the Condits table allows each type of protection to be associated with a particular material. It also allowed each type of protection to be associated with an assessment of its condition, though in practice these fields (Cond1, Cond2, Cond3 and Cond4 in the Condits table) are rarely used. Instead, the Welsh Office tended to give an overall assessment of the condition of defences in a length of coast in the Condition_Class field.

Within the former Welsh Office, the Coastal Survey - Wales was conducted by Flood and Coastal Defence Branch of the Environment Division of the Transport, Planning and Environment Group. Flood and Coastal Defence Branch staff gathered the data and input it into the database. Digital maps displaying data gathered in the survey were produced by the Welsh Office's Drawing Office (located within the Planning Division of Transport, Planning and Environment Group).

The Coastal Survey - Wales was a survey of the Welsh coastline and defences against flooding and coastal erosion which was conducted by the former Welsh Office. Work on the survey began in 1992 following consultation with Welsh local authorities. The inputting of data gathered in the survey to create a database using DataEase was commenced at some point after 1992.

The survey was designed to update and expand data gathered in an earlier survey, the Coast Protection Act 1949: Report of Survey (Wales), which was published by the Welsh Office in 1982. It was meant to complement separate surveys by other government agencies: in particular, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's Coast Protection Survey of England; and the National Rivers Authority's Sea Defence Survey. The latter gathered data on the condition of defences along the Welsh and English coastlines which had been classified as 'sea defences' (i.e. defences against flooding from the sea); it was first conducted in 1991, and was later continued by the Environment Agency, the National Rivers Authority's successor. Information from the Coastal Survey - Wales was intended to help the Secretary of State for Wales discharge his responsibilities under the Coast Protection Act 1949, by keeping the adequacy and state of repair of coastal defences under review. It was also intended to inform discussions between the Welsh Office and coast protection authorities over future programmes of capital works, and to help the Welsh Office assess priorities for future expenditure on coast protection.

The survey covered the entire Welsh coastline between the boundaries of the River Wye in the south and the River Dee in the north, as defined in Schedule 4 of the Coast Protection Act 1949. It gathered data about the natural coastline, defences against flooding and coastal erosion, and the condition of coast protection defences. Data was compiled by Welsh Office staff using a variety of sources, including existing surveys, site visits and data supplied by other bodies.

The survey database was supplemented by a series of 1:50,000 scale maps produced by the Welsh Office's Drawing Office, based on Ordnance Survey map data. Copies of the maps have been transferred. They show the locations of defences categorised as coast protection and sea defence, as well as the locations of hard natural coast (broken down into categories), and of soft natural coast (broken down into categories). They also show the locations of breakwaters (a type of coast protection) and the boundaries of post-April 1996 Welsh unitary authorities, and give the last four digits of the code used in the survey for each length of coastline. The maps were produced using a MapInfo Geographical Information System (GIS), but there was no direct link between the GIS and the Coastal Survey database; survey data was added to the Ordnance Survey backdrops by Drawing Office staff.

When a dataset from the Coastal Survey database was first transferred to NDAD in 1998, the survey was regarded by the Welsh Office as a continuing exercise. The Welsh Office intended to review and update the database and to complete records where data was missing. It also intended to extend the database to include typical cross-sections and brief descriptions of coastal defences; photographs; information on extreme sea levels; astronomic tide level data; and other appropriate information from shoreline management plans prepared by local authorities. The long-term goal was to publish the survey when it had reached its final form (in 1998 information from the survey was being supplied to members of the public, local authorities and institutions on request). It is unclear whether or to what extent the Coastal Survey - Wales was continued by the Executive of the National Assembly for Wales, which succeeded the Welsh Office in 1999.