CAMPAIGNERS have pleaded with Prime Minister Gordon Brown to intervene in plans to abandon flood defences on the Suffolk coast.

The protestors, angry at plans to withdraw funding for flood defences on the Blyth estuary, staged a demonstration on Southwold promenade - timed to coincide with the Prime Minister’s holiday on the Suffolk coast.

Hundreds of people formed a human chain, linking arms and holding banners reading “Gord Help Us” and “Save Our Shoreline”. (more…)

HUNDREDS of campaigners today formed a human chain along Southwold’s promenade to send a message to Gordon Brown about the Governent’s policy of abandoning the Suffolk coast to the ravages of the sea.

The Blyth Estuary protestors - who are angry about the Environment Agency’s plans to withdraw funding for flood defences at the Blyth Estuary - took their fight to Mr Brown, who is currently enjoying a summer holiday in the area.

The protesters linked arms and chanted “SOS” while some held banners saying: “Gord Help Us. Save Our Shoreline.” (more…)

Van Oord has been awarded two projects on the east coast of England by the UK Environment Agency.

The first is the Happisburgh to Winterton Sea Defence Project which is worth approximately Euros 9 million. This is a continuation of work previously undertaken by Van Oord at this location. the new work will start in September 2008 and is scheduled for completion in December 2008. (more…)

A 15,000-name petition calling for the government to confirm a commitment to protect the Broads from being swamped by the sea will be handed in tomorrow before parliament shuts for the summer.

The bumper document follows a pledge to protect a vulnerable stretch of coast for at least 50 years, made by environment minister Phil Woolas during a recent visit to north east Norfolk.

He defused fears over a Natural England scenario which said one option in the face of coastal erosion was to surrender six villages and 25 square miles of Broads countryside to the sea, if defences were too expensive or difficult. (more…)

Plans to protect the future of Chichester Harbour have been supported by the group responsible for maintaining it.

The Chichester Harbour Conservancy has agreed to support the Coastal Defence Strategy for the East Head frontage.

The strategy, commissioned by Chichester District Council, the Environment Agency and Arun District Council, aims to protect the harbour from the threat of flooding. (more…)

As the world’s top golfers battle it out for the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, the oldest links course in England - the 144-year-old Royal North Devon at Westward Ho! - is engaged in a fight for survival.

The course, home to the oldest ladies’ golf club in the world and renowned for its association with golfing great John Henry Taylor - who won the Open five times between 1894 and 1913 and went on to design Royal Birkdale - is crumbling into the sea.

And campaigners trying to save it are furious that Natural England, the government agency responsible for coastline management, have stopped sea defences protecting the course being repaired as part of their policy of managed retreat. (more…)

The sum of £100 million pledged by environment minister Phil Woolas to project the Norfolk Broads against the ever rising North Sea during the next 50 years, appears to fall far short of the realistic cost of conserving this important freshwater habitat.

That is the view of local anglers and indeed all conservationists who point out that to fulfil this promise the government has to sanction the building of a tidal barrage at Great Yarmouth as well as meeting head on the threat of the sea breaching the vulnerable coastal defences between Eccles and Winterton.

A tidal barrier scheme has been on and off the agenda since the 1950s, and it was rejected by government in the 1970s on the grounds that the estimated bill of £70 million did not meet the cost/benefit criteria.

It does not require a mathematic genius to calculate that building such a tidal barrage today, even if it was somehow incorporated into the Yarmouth outer harbour scheme, would swallow all of the £100 million and possibly require much more. (more…)

Flood defence campaigners are to lobby parliament in what could be a crucial week in their bid to save land and homes from being lost to the sea.

Members of the Blyth Strategy Group, which opposes the Environment Agency’s (EA) plans to stop maintaining flood banks in the north Suffolk estuary in the next 20 years, and representatives from local councils will travel to Westminster tomorrow.

The move comes less than a week after environment minister Phil Woolas visited Norfolk communities and told them that in spite of draft proposals by Natural England to allow a 25 sq mile area of land to flood, their homes would not be sacrificed to the sea. (more…)

Mrs Beeby and I are standing amid a sea of pansies, sweet peas, sunflowers and half a dozen gnomes in her immaculate back garden. Above, gulls are squawking. Below, waves are crashing on to the sandy beach and the wind is whistling in our ears.

‘Just look - it’s a beautiful view, don’t you think?’ she says, leaning over the fence and pointing at the North Sea, grey and glinting behind a few yards of meadow.

‘I remember when we first moved here - we’d hang over the fence and say: “Wouldn’t it be nice if all those bungalows weren’t in the way so we had a clear view of the sea…”

‘Well, be careful what you wish for. There’s one fence pole left, then a little bit of meadow, then us. Everything else has fallen in. The first thing I do each morning is look at the view - but more to see what’s gone than what’s still there.’ (more…)

A GOVERNMENT minister has reassured villagers living on the coast they will not lose their homes, even though a government body has put forward a plan to allow the sea inland.

Instead, Floods Minister Phil Woolas said the government had called on the Environment Agency to provide a report on how the coastline can be protected from erosion over the next 100 years.

He also pledged £100m of government funding would be spent on bolstering defences over the next 50 years during a visit to some of the threatened villages where he met parish councillors and residents faced with the prospect of losing their homes under a Natural England option. (more…)