The unique partnership that came together to provide much-needed coastal defence works around East Lane, Bawdsey is celebrating the news that work should get underway this month.

Because the defence works were low on the list of priorities for national funding, an innovative community partnership was created which has helped raise the money by building homes on three nearby sites.

“Suffolk Coastal has now received the necessary funds from the East Lane Trust (ELT) for the coastal defence works to proceed, which together with the unexpected and hence doubly welcome contingency commitment from the Environment Agency, means that the contracts for the work can be signed,” said Cllr Andy Smith, Cabinet Member for Coastal Management.

“I want to pay tribute to all those involved, not least Gerry Matthews of the ELT and all the other members of the Trust particularly the landowners who helped make it all possible, for the most amazing community vision and courage.

“I am proud of the role that Suffolk Coastal has been able to play in this project. There can have been few ever examples of such close, effective and productive joint working between the community and the statutory bodies as this project, and it has been a privilege to be associated with it,” added Cllr Smith.

A series of emergency works worth nearly £250,000 have been funded by Suffolk Coastal over recent years. Further emergency coastal defences were put in place during the 2007 winter to help protect Bawdsey’s East Lane cliffs. Suffolk Coastal District Council worked closely with the local community and the Environment Agency to help shore up an area that suffered some of the most dramatic impacts of coastal erosion over the last few years.

The assets most obviously risk of further erosion at East Lane are a Martello Tower and two adjacent homes, but the loss of the cliffs would also have seen a serious flood threat to large areas of low-lying land in Bawdsey, Alderton and Hollesley. The Shoreline Management Plan recognises the importance of this stretch of the coast.

“The reality of the situation united the three parishes. We all worked hard to produce a local answer to the funding gap caused because there is not enough money set aside nationally for coastal defence work,” said Gerry Matthews of the East Lane Trust.

“The Trust came up with its own imaginative way of locally funding the cost of the permanent defence works, by selling housing development land, for which we had to get the backing of both Suffolk Coastal and then the Government.

“These were exceptional circumstances and we have delivered a unique local solution which will deliver the vital coastal protection for East Lane and beyond. I would thank everyone who has been involved in our partnership, and I look forward in a few weeks to being able to celebrate the start of the work,” added Mr Matthews.

The contract for the project has been awarded by Suffolk Coastal to Dean and Dyball Construction Ltd, and work is expected to start on site on Monday, September 29.

From a press release on the Suffolk Coastal District Council website