The Environment Agency has opted to flood Medmerry and move its sea defence boundaries over the next 100 years to prevent further risks of flooding.

The proposal was made in the East Head to Pagham draft coastal defence strategy released today by the EA.

Medmerry has been badly hit by storms in recent years, with some properties already crumbling under the sea’s grip.

The EA outlined in its draft strategy it would work with landowners to define new defence lines and locate where it could create a new space for a new tidal habitat.

James Humphrys, Solent and South Downs area manager for the EA, said it recognised the threat of flooding and erosion, but central government funding was limited.

“We cannot prevent all flooding and erosion. The storm back in March that washed away the shingle beach at Medmerry and flooded the caravan site was a stark reminder for us all,” he said (more…)

Holidaymakers visiting a part of Norfolk Broads which could be left to the power of the North Sea were yesterday warned about contentious plans to give up sea defences in the area.

Hundreds of trippers in Potter Heigham were stunned to be told about a scheme to surrender 25 square miles of the broads and six villages to flooding.

Read the full story by Anthony Carroll on the EDP website

According to the government’s countryside advisors, Natural England, for an island nation like Britain it should be a basic human right to have access to virtually every inch of coast. The idea is that anyone should be able to go to the coast, turn left or right and be able to walk on a continuous footpath as far as they wish.

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And so new legislation to create a footpath round the whole 2,500-mile coastline of England will be featured in the Queen’s Speech later this year. The Marine and Coastal Access Bill will extend the principle of open access over large areas of England’s uncultivated fells and moors which came into effect a few years ago under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act.

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But the biggest challenge provided by the Holderness Coast to the idea of a footpath around the whole of England is that this is one of the fastest-eroding shores in Europe. Any new footpath in Holderness would be a case of now you see it, now you don’t.

That will not mean that the public right of access is washed away, according to Natural England. The right will simply “roll back” from the clifftop to the best, and the safest, available route.

Read the full article by Roger Ratcliffe on the Yorkshire Post website

Flooding minister Phil Woolas will visit Norfolk in July and come face to face with people threatened with losing their homes and businesses if proposals to abandon 25 square miles of the Broads go ahead.

Those behind the Norfolk end of the visit have already made it clear the event should not be confrontational, but part of a reasoned attempt to force the government quango Natural England into dropping a controversial report first revealed in the EDP in late March.

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He will attend a meeting in Lessingham village hall, where he has been invited to make a speech on climate change and its effects on north east Norfolk. He will then face a range of questions from various Norfolk representatives.

The event has been organised by a newly formed group called the North East Norfolk Coastal Parishes Group, which includes seven parishes and the Norfolk County Association of Parish and Town Councils.

Read the full story by Ed Foss on the EDP website

Dutch experts on sea defence are to be asked to consider suggestions from residents of the Manhood peninsula about how best to protect their homes from the ravages of the waves.

A ‘Going Dutch II’ workshop, which has now been confirmed will be run by the Manhood Peninsula Partnership next month, is designed to bring international experts and local people together to look at ways to deal with the issue of coastal defences in the area.

The workshop coincides with a consultation period for a new draft coastal defence strategy being prepared by the Environment Agency and Chichester and Arun District Councils.

But participants at the workshop will also consider other options to tackle the problem, and organisers are looking for ideas from the Manhood community. (more…)

Serious failings have been identified in the emergency response to last year’s tidal surge when Norfolk came within a whisker of a flooding disaster and thousands of families around Yarmouth were evacuated from their homes.

A new report says the operation was beset with problems, including insufficient supplies of food at rest centres, lack of phone chargers in emergency planning rooms and a break in the chain of command among those tasked with dealing with the crisis.

Most areas survived by inches – though residents in Walcott in North Norfolk complained flood warning sirens were not used to alert people to the dangers.

Read the full story by Shaun Lowthorpe on the EDP website

Northam Burrows England’s oldest golf course is disappearing into the sea by up to 90ft a year after members were banned from protecting it by “potwalloping” – for the first time in more than a century.

Officials at the 18-hole Royal Devon Golf Club, at Northam Burrows, near Westward Ho!, say large chunks of the links course are being reclaimed by the sea.

The course was established in 1864 and takes a regular battering from the Bristol Channel. Every year Torridge District Council has protected its seaward ridges by using machinery to pile up pebbles to limit the damage of the sea. But Natural England has told it that it is no longer allowed to interfere with nature because the course lies on a site of special scientific interest.

Members have also been banned from resurrecting the custom of “potwalloping”, where local people would pile the stones by hand.

David Lloyd, 60, a club member and former chairman, said that unless the ridge was protected, the course would lose the 7th and 8th holes as early as next year.

“I remember potwalloping as a child to protect the golfing green,” he said. “Twice a year, thousands of people would get together and potwallop on the beach.”

Published on the Times website 20 May 2008 also on the Guardian website

From a press release on the Natural England website:

On launching its ‘State of the Natural Environment‘ report, Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England, said:

“England needs a new approach to conservation if we are to tackle effectively the modern pressures on land created by climate change and development. The natural environment is increasingly under threat, both within and especially away from protected areas.

“We need to find ways to manage our landscape to create a mosaic of uses so that we can help wildlife survive – be it through a new ‘national park’ around the length of England’s coastline, better use of the green belt or improved use of public funding for farmers to deliver a better natural environment.

“If we don’t act, there’s a real danger some of our most precious wildlife will be lost forever and our lives will be poorer for it,” concluded Helen Phillips.

From the Eastern Region section:

Meeting the challenge in the East of England region

We will work collaboratively with others for a better quality of life, creating a prosperous, healthy, socially cohesive region with an attractive, high quality environment. We will provide leadership within the region on actions needed to protect, enhance and enjoy the natural environment.

We will work closely with other partners, such as the Environment Agency, to get our SSSIs into favourable condition, particularly those suffering from coastal and water related pressures.

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We will work with partner agencies and local communities to understand the impacts of climate change and develop solutions, including a resilient, natural coastline.

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A report by a government body has proposed, as one of four policy options, the prospect of 25 square miles of Norfolk surrendered to the sea. Houses would be destroyed as well as local shops, pubs, village and landscape. Under present legislation there would be no compensation.

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Malcolm Kerby, the coordinator of the Coastal Concern Action Group which is trying to save the North Norfolk village of Happisburgh from collapsing into the sea gives his view…

Read the full article on the BBC website and see the transmitted programme featuring Malcolm Kerby, Richard Howett MEP, Steve Hayman and John Gummer MP.

Coastal erosion campaigners have hailed the efforts of a cross-party group of Norfolk MPs as “a whole chunk of England standing together saying we cannot let Norfolk go.”

Jim Bratton of Scratby’s coastal erosion group said Great Yarmouth MP Tony Wright had put the case for his stretch of coastline well at a commons debate broadcast live on Tuesday.

Mr Wright was one of a group of MPs who pledged to fight on after failing to win reassurances or concessions from the government over the mooted surrendering of 25 square miles of the county to the sea. (more…)