Military establishments can be unsightly and cause noise, vibration or radiation.

They often occupy miles of outstanding coastal landscape, used to test explosives and as exercise areas, and deprive people of access to the coast.

Orford Ness
This situation has been redressed at Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast. Orford came out of defence use and is now protected by the National Trust as a nature reserve.

The Watson-Watt Radar Tower at Orford (pictured) is a remnant of Orford's defensive era. It was built to further the development of the aerial defence system that would become known as Radar.

Other measures, such as the appropriation of a large area of the Dorset coast around Lulworth, remain today. In many areas, remnants of defence installations litter the foreshore and cliffs.

However, the inaccessibility of such areas has often greatly enhanced their nature conservation value.