Protecting Medmerry’s sea defences would be only ‘fighting against nature’.

That is the verdict of James Humphrys, Solent and South Downs area manager for the Environment Agency (EA), on the crumbling sea defences for the area in Selsey.

The EA announced its proposals to move the sea defence boundaries at Medmerry and carry out controlled flooding for the area over the next century.

The Pagham to East Head draft coastal defence strategy was announced on May 29 and in it the EA proposed to sustain Selsey’s sea defences.

“We all feel a deep wish to provide total protection for everybody all the time,” said Mr Humphrys.

“The reality is we can’t do that. We have a limited amount of money.”

The coast is divided into different stretches because of the different states and populations of each area.

The EA said it was in talks with Bunn Leisure about how they could both work together to find a solution for protecting Medmerry and the holiday park.

Mr Humphrys said: “In some parts of the peninsula it is actually fighting against nature and that’s not something we can continue to do. With Medmerry there is a lot of low-lying land with a very low population density. We will make arrangements with landowners about our proposals.”

Story in the Chichester Observer