At a packed public meeting in Hickling last night, the former Environment Secretary and Chairman of the David Cameron’s Quality of Life Commission, John Gummer MP, called for the Government to abandon its policy of managed retreat and to return to what he called a policy of, “what we have we hold.”

Mr Gummer, who was visiting North Norfolk at the request of the Conservative Spokesman for the area, Trevor Ivory, said, “It is a scandal that with all the resources and technology that are available to us today, our Government is telling us that we can no longer defend land that has been defended for centuries. It is an insult to those previous generations who had less, but still made sacrifices to defend out coastline.”

“But what is even worse is that we are leaving future generations to pick up the bill, because wherever we draw the line, we will have to defend our coast at some point. By failing to fund coastal defences now, what we are really saying is that we are going to leave it to our children and grandchildren to pay later.” Mr Gummer added.

Read the full article by Trevor Ivory on www.trevorivory.com