Private landowners fund coastal defence to protect Danish holiday town

Private landowners near the North Jutland holiday town of Nr. Lyngby are financing a willow-bundle seawall to shield the eroding 19-metre cliff and its threatened properties, Danish broadcaster DR reports.

A newly formed coastal protection association, led by Bent Jørgensen, aims to raise nearly 900,000 kroner (€121,000) to extend the existing willow defences along a 200-metre gap where waves and wind have exposed the cliff face. The current system—two rows of willow bundles buried in the sand—has already halted erosion on secured sections, according to a 2023 report by engineering firm WSP Danmark.

“The primary goal is to protect properties and assets,” said Jørgensen, who owns a holiday apartment in the cliff-top Lyngby Mølle resort. The most vulnerable sites include three summer cottages and a disused cemetery; the resort itself lies just behind the graveyard.

While the group seeks grants and sponsors, the 88 local plot owners face a special assessment. Jørgensen noted visible progress where willows were installed: “The beach is gradually building up behind the bundles, erosion at the cliff base has stopped, and vegetation is returning.”

The project complements ongoing sand nourishment funded partly by Hjørring Municipality’s 2.9-million-krone (€390,000) coastal defence grant. Aalborg University coastal expert Peter Frigaard warned that storm surges could dislodge the willow bundles without regular sand replenishment.

Nr. Lyngby’s willow defences, first tested in 2008 as Denmark’s inaugural “biological” coastal protection scheme, initially covered 130 metres. Later expansions left unprotected stretches where erosion has since accelerated.