Technical Considerations
There are many technical issues which require consideration within the Strategy study area. These technical issues relate to the existing flood defences and their interaction with the physical process of the River Roach, River Crouch and the coastline.

Historic land use practices in the area have had a significant impact on the present shape of the Roach and Crouch estuary complex, resulting in these estuaries becoming a single system.

One of the key objectives of the Strategy is to develop a more sustainable estuary shape, which considers the change of the estuary shape towards its natural equilibrium.

Estuary modelling data and records of erosion and accretion within the estuary have been compared with historic information and data obtained from local stakeholders. All of this information has been used to develop an estuary processes model, which has been used to gain an understanding of how the estuary works today and to predict how the estuary may behave under predicted future sea levels. The estuary processes model has also been used to identify locations where managed realignment may be possible, to reduce pressures on the estuary and adjacent flood defences.