Posted on the Norfolk Coast website:

Consultation’s now closed as far as the Shoreline Management Plan for The Wash and that bit of the Norfolk Coast’s concerned.

There’ll doubtless be an uproar at some point, when people wake up to the sections which apply to Hunstanton’s much-loved candy cliffs.

Erosion of same won’t just threaten the Lighthouse within a generation – depending which projection or forecast you believe.

It will also spell some serious consequences for Cliff Parade, unless something’s done – as opposed to the leave it to natural forces approach outlined in the draft Shoreline Management Plan.

We wonder what people living up there think. Could this be the next Happisburgh within a generation..?

MORECAMBE, Heysham, Sunderland Point, Bolton-le-Sands, Silverdale and other settlements on our stretch of Morecambe Bay have been left out of a coastal erosion consultation.

Geraldine Smith, the MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, has picked up on the omission and has arranged a meeting with the Environment Agency and the city council to make sure public consultation is carried out.

The meeting will take place on Friday at 1pm. (more…)

FEARFUL residents whose homes look set to be lost to coastal erosion have welcomed a £1.2m funding package.

A pilot scheme will see East Riding Council buy homes which are likely to disappear into the sea over the next 15 years.

The local authority will then lease the homes back to their owners giving them time and money to plan for a future move. (more…)

A DETAILED vision of how the north Suffolk coastline might change over the next 100 years seems poised to be rubber-stamped at top level.

Protecting popular beaches and shoring up defences around Lowestoft harbour are among the proposals being put forward in the finalised shoreline management plan (SMP) for the coast from Lowestoft to Felixstowe.

The final version has been drawn up after three months of public consultations last autumn and looks likely to be approved by environ-ment secretary Hilary Benn and Environment Agency regional top brass in the spring.

The plan looks at the risks of sea erosion and flooding and considers where defences need to be strengthened or where erosion should be allowed to continue over the next century. (more…)

Waves, tides and storms regularly batter the wild coastline of Lancashire. It is nothing new for the landowners who see their land lost inch by inch every year.

But now this destructive climate cycle has left the shores crumbling and communities fearing they could be lost under water forever.

After years of protecting the shoreline, local authorities could wave the white flag at mother nature as they consider leaving the future of the Lancashire coastline in the hands of the gods.

Lancaster City Council is working with the North West England and North Wales Coastal Group, the Environment Agency and other organisations to draw up a Shoreline Management Plan (SMP), to establish the best way to manage the changing coast, now and for future generations.

Plans are to either to maintain the current coastal defences or allow the defences to weaken and let swathes of agricultural land turn to marshland. (more…)

ULVERSTON has been left out in the cold by planners who are trying to find ways of protecting the coastline in the north-west of England, according to its mayor.

Norman Bishop-Rowe was left fuming at the fact that the town was not included in a round of consultation meetings about the proposed Shoreline Management Plan, which he claims will have a major effect on Ulverston.

The plan has been put together by the North West and North Wales Coastal Group, a partnership made up of local authorities including South Lakeland District Council, Environment Agency and Natural England, and looks at how the coastline should be managed over the next 100 years. (more…)

THEY face the prospect of their land being lost to the Solent.

Land owners in the New Forest were given their first chance to comment on plans that will end up shaping the future of Hampshire.

A major blue print, suggesting how coastal erosion should be tackled over the next 100 years, is going on display over the coming week at a series of public consultations.

Within the pages of the North Solent Shoreline Management Plan (SMP), experts have already recommended that some stretches of the county’s coast should effectively be sacrificed to Mother Nature. (more…)

COMMUNITIES across Morecambe Bay are reacting to a coastal plan which outlines how the changing shoreline should be managed in future.Rising tides could threaten homes, farmland, natural habitats and a local nature reserve and South Lakeland District Council has been working on a plan of action to protect vulnerable areas.

The draft Shoreline Management Plan outlines proposals for action along the North West coast over the next 100 years as the risk of flooding and erosion increases. (more…)

From Building Design:

British cities near the coast are at risk of extreme flooding with urgent action needed now to protect them, the RIBA and the Institution of Civil Engineers have claimed.

A new report by the two organisations urges the government, built environment professionals, planning authorities and the public to focus on devising radical solutions including the building of flood defenses or floating or stilted buildings.

The report, called Facing up to Rising Sea Levels: Retreat, Defend, Attack?, focuses on Kingston upon Hull and Portsmouth and presents six scenarios up to 90 years in the future, proposing three main approaches to tacking extreme flooding – retreat, defend or attack. (more…)

North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) has been awarded a grant of £3 million to develop new ways of managing the impacts of coastal change on our coastal communities.  This comes from the Coastal Change Fund announced in the Government’s Coastal Change Policy.

• Find out more about the North Norfolk Pathfinder