With such a strong national and international focus on the tough economic climate, it would seem attention has, in many quarters, been drawn away from the previous hot topic – climate change.

While the storm clouds of recession have prompted robust remedial action by many authorities, we overlook the longer-term issue of our environment at our peril. This has been driven home this month as Teignbridge, on behalf of 12 local authorities across the South West, led the initial dissemination of findings which will shape the future of our coastline and its communities – the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) 2.

Working with the Environment Agency, county council, Natural England, Network Rail, and other authorities, we involved local people in the policies likely to emerge from SMP2, which covers more than 400km of open coastline, including Dawlish Warren, the Exe Estuary, and Durlstone Head, among others.

Options for different areas include maintaining existing sea defences, realigning the coast and allowing water to breach existing defences, advancing the defences and reclaiming land, or simply doing nothing.

Options in our immediate area suggest recharging beaches to provide bigger, better resorts and an additional ‘buffer’, while longer-term plans over 50 to 100 years suggest a possible realignment of some much-loved areas, resulting in parts of them being lost to the sea.

Not an easy pill to swallow if your business, land, or even home is in the affected area, as is the case along parts of the Devon and Dorset coasts.

Our changing climate could cost people their homes and, in leading the SMP2, Teignbridge has had a humbling reminder of the power that the climate and nature hold over coastal areas.

Of course, the economic issue raises its threatening head here as well. We can’t simply batten down the hatches against the environment, and our efforts are affected by the economic climate. The SMP2 may suggest a range of flood and coastal defence measures, but all require full scrutiny and, of course, funding.

All coastal authorities are relying on government funds to implement proposed coastal defences and, with resources rarer than a hot summer, we have to be tenacious and innovative to capture a share of the money.

It’s a humbling thought that the economic and environmental picture may not be evenly balanced in the long term. The consequences of climate change are well documented and, as local authorities, an integral part of our role is to look at the bigger picture and ensure we put in place measures to mitigate climate change, notwithstanding the current economic picture.

Article by Nicola Bulbeck, chief executive at Teignbridge DC on the Local Gov website