Coastal defences that currently protect huge swathes of farm land, natural habitat and housing are to be moved inland, allowing the sea to flood into low-lying areas.

In some parts of the country, householders and land owners have been told they face spending millions of pounds of their own money to build and repair flood defences to try to protect their property. (more…)

It’s a bright sunny day in Studland, Dorset. The wind catches the sand and whips it through the dunes and grasses. Helped by the tides, as each grain moves the shoreline slowly but inevitably shifts.

Emma Wright has worked for the National Trust at Studland for the past seven years.

As we walked along the beach she explained she had become used to seeing areas of the beach swept away.

In November it took just one storm for the sea to reclaim 15 metres of the beach.

Emma showed me red and white hazard tape flapping next to some wooden posts – these were all that remained of the wooden steps once used to access the car park.

“It’s just the vegetation left which is holding the dune together and you can see it cracking all the way through.

“That will be just another chunk of dune grass to fall off into the sea with the next storm”, she says. (more…)

Chichester Harbour Conservancy on the south coast of the UK has announced that a planning application has been submitted to Chichester District Council to recycle some 15,000 tons of sand and shingle into the vulnerable hinge and neck area of East Head in Chichester Harbour.

The plan will involve recycling material from the north to the south of East Head to create an enlarged barrier beach that will significantly widen and strengthen the point of the beach where East Head joins the West Wittering car park. (more…)

THE FINAL sea defence plans for coastlines in the area have been rubber-stamped by Chichester District Council.

During a full council meeting at the Selsey Centre, Manor Road, the final recommendations for the Pagham to East Head draft coastal defence strategy were discussed.

The majority of councillors voted to adopt the sea defences policies as the coast protection authority for the area and support the plans, which are drawn up by the Environment Agency. (more…)

CAMPAIGNERS say they will fight on following the decision by the Environment Agency to allow Cuckmere Haven to revert to a tidal floodplain.

Wednesday’s announcement that it will be withdrawing flood protection for the river banks has sparked angry calls for a public inquiry.

The iconic landscape of the meanders will be lost to future generations but the agency says the decision will allow the estuary to adapt to the impacts of climate change and will bring major benefits to visitors and wildlife. (more…)

Current flood defences are not high enough to cope with sea level rises at the Cuckmere Estuary in East Sussex and each year the agency spends tens of thousands of pounds removing shingle from the mouth of the river.

Now it has decided to allow the sea to reclaim the popular landmark in a move that will see the valley return to the tidal floodplain it was back in the 1840s.

Campaigners said they are pressing for a more managed approach and that allowing the area to flood would harm wildlife, footpaths and parts of the local beach.

But the Environment Agency said that climate change, sea level rises and past interference by man have put the Cuckmere Estuary under increasing pressure.

Read the full story on the Telegraph website

A MP has renewed his call for a public inquiry into plans to turn Cuckmere Valley into a tidal floodplain.

The Environment Agency announced on Wednesday that it would allow the East Sussex valley to flood, turning it into a salt marsh nature reserve.

It said climate change meant its flood risk management had to change.

Eastbourne MP Nigel Waterson said he was writing to the government to demand a “proper public inquiry” and he wanted the consultation details published.

Read the full story on the BBC News website

Sir, Natural England designated the Easton Bavents area in Suffolk as a site of national geological importance because it patently is one — as Justice Blair entirely agreed in Friday’s High Court judgment (“A home at stake in battle between birds and fossils”, Dec 6).

The new boundary does not stop Peter Boggis, whose efforts to protect his home have received court support, building sea defences. It means that planning authorities need to take the impacts on the site into account when considering any development. If Waveney District Council feels that the benefits of a sea defence outweigh the negative impacts on conservation it can authorise its construction. To date, Waveney has not been able to make this choice as Mr Boggis has not made a full application for planning permission — even though Waveney supported his case in court. He also needs to approach the Environment Agency for a licence.

Natural England wishes to continue working with Mr Boggis and other agencies to find a solution. We believe that the planning system is the right place to balance the public interests of the conservation site and the private interests of homeowners and we would encourage Mr Boggis to make use of it.

Helen Phillips

Chief Executive, Natural England

Letter published in the Times

The Cuckmere Valley in East Sussex is to be turned into a tidal floodplain, the Environment Agency has decided.

Residents had fought the plans to flood the valley, created by the Victorians in 1846, and turn it into a salt marsh nature reserve.

The Environment Agency’s Andrew Pearce said it knew there would be concern but flood risk management had to change. (more…)

There surely can be few other areas of Government which provide poorer value for money than DEFRA’s Flood and Coast Protection (F&CP) department.

F&CP now has it’s own “Bermuda Triangle” the three sides of which are DEFRA, Environment Agency (EA) and Natural England (NE).

Dubbed Bermuda Triangle because if one lives on the coast and happens to be caught between those three (one department and two quangos) it is quite likely that one will disappear into the administrative, process led and target orientated black hole which they seem to create.

The only thing which seems to disappear faster than any individual caught in it is taxpayers money.

Read the rest of Malcom Kerby’s comments on the Coastal Concern Action Group website