You could call him a latter-day Canute: like the legendary Danish king of England, Peter Boggis is bidding the North Sea to retreat.

But while the Viking monarch tried to stop the incoming waves to show fawning courtiers that even the power of kings had its limitations, Mr Boggis is deadly serious. Those same waves are rapidly eroding the cliffs in front of his home in Easton Bavents, near Southwold in Suffolk, and since the Second World War have claimed 14 of the 28 houses that made up the small seaside community. His own home is now only 80 metres from the cliff edge, which is getting closer every year. (more…)

MORE than 60 acres of nature reserve on the Suffolk coast are to be abandoned to the North Sea.

The Environment Agency will on Friday reveal plans to “withdraw maintenance” from an earth bank which protects part of the internationally important Minsmere nature reserve, between Dunwich and Sizewell. (more…)

Natural England has defended its right to allow the sea to erode cliffs for scientific reasons, even though people’s homes are at risk.

The statutory body responsible for looking after wild plants, animals and the natural features of England was under attack at the High Court in London because it wants fossil-bearing cliffs on the north Suffolk coast to be allowed to wear away, exposing stratas of soil and rock for study.

Retired engineer Peter Boggis, aged 77, who lives on the clifftop at The Warren, Easton Bavents, near Southwold, accused the body of acting outside its statutory powers when it notified the cliffs as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 2006, protecting the erosion process. (more…)

Peter Boggis, aged 77, built his own costal defences to prevent erosion and save his home and those of his neighbours in north Suffolk.

But Natural England, the body previously known as English Nature, wants the fossil-bearing cliffs on which the houses stand to wear away, exposing strata of soil and rock for study.

In 2006, it declared the area a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Mr Boggis was banned from maintaining his “soft sea defences”.

The barrier initially consisted of 250,000 tonnes of compacted clay soils Mr Boggis had brought in to protect 14 homes at Easton Bavents, near Southwold.

It has now been eroded to around 50,000 tonnes of soil and the homes run the risk of eventually slipping into the North Sea.

Yesterday , Mr Boggis took his battle to save his home to the High Court, arguing that Natural England was acting outside of its powers by creating the SSSI. (more…)

Sea defence campaigners have branded Natural England’s (NE) policies ‘crazy’ as the final touches are being made to the Pagham to East Head draft coastal defence strategy.

The Environment Agency (EA) is just weeks away from releasing the final plans for the draft strategy.

But Save Our Selsey (SOS) campaigners fear the EA is being ‘restrained’ by NE. (more…)

A year after a tidal surge breached flood defences around a north Suffolk estuary, a landowner has vowed to work with coastal campaigners to protect the land he loves.

Andrew Blois, who owns hundreds of acres of grazing, marsh and farm land in Walberswick, next to the Blyth Estuary, has been working for the last year to repair some of the flood walls which were damaged in last November’s storm surge.

“These defences were built by my family 300 years ago. I’m not going to be the Blois who gives up on them,” he said. (more…)

THE seafront and the town up to Phear Park could be swallowed up by the sea in future generations – unless local authorities and the Government take action, climate change experts have warned.

A meeting of the Exe Estuary Forum heard predictions that Devon would be eight per cent drier by 2020 and sea levels could rise between 20 and 80cm by 2080.

This would put low-lying areas of Exmouth town at risk of flooding. (more…)

People in coastal communities in north Norfolk are being given a chance to voice their views about the challenges faced by their erosion-threatened villages and towns.

Sixty residents and representatives are attending a meeting at Overstrand next Tuesday aimed at kick starting a conversation between the local council and communities. (more…)

A bid to secure European funding to protect homes and land around a north Suffolk estuary has attracted the support of decision-makers in the flood risk zone.

East of England MEP Geoffrey van Orden has been looking into the possibility of applying for European Union money to help repair flood defences around the Blyth estuary, near Southwold, and now local councils have agreed to help him bid for the cash. (more…)

A FRESH call will be made for the Government to carry out an investigation into whether offshore dredging has contributed to large losses of land on the East Riding coast.

In the past year, unprecedented chunks of cliff measuring almost three times the length of a double-decker bus have disappeared into the sea. (more…)