SEFTON’S changing coastline is to benefit from a £337,000 government boost.

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has pledged the money to help Sefton Council adapt to coastal erosion and dune movements at Formby.

The site was last year highlighted by a National Trust report which named it among the top 10 UK beaches which could be irrevocably changed by increasingly stormy weather.

With one of the largest dune systems in Britain, Sefton Council proposed building a new board walk system at the site to continue access to the sands.

It also proposed a new visitor car park after the last one became inaccessible due to the movement of the beach.Š

The council has worked with the National Trust and the Sefton Coast Partnership to involve local schools and residents with the scheme.

The new DEFTA grant will pay for these schemes to be put in place.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said: “Our coastline has always been shaped by the sea and as climate change takes hold the risk of coastal change will only increase.

“That is why we need to help our coastal communities to adapt to this change.

“No one can know or understand what these communities need better than the communities themselves, and with this funding they will be able to work together, to better prepare their people and businesses by adapting to local change.”

Erosion already affects 30% of the English coastline, while other areas are at risk of flooding or an increase in amounts of shingle.

Fifteen coastal communities will benefit from this £11m grant scheme, and winning authorities come from all around the coast.

The 2008 National Trust report stated: “For the last 100 years, the beach at Formby has been eroding at a rate of four metres every year.

“Severe storms can take 12 to 15 metres from the front of the dunes in one event. This can be followed by some recovery as sand blows in from the beach.”

It added over the next 100 years the sands will recede by a minimum of 400 metres.

In June, 2009, Sefton were among the authorities who were invited to enter the Coastal Challenge Pathfinder competition to come up with their own scheme to deal with problems of erosion in their area.

The grants will be used by local authorities to explore and test their own ideas of adaptation.

Story in the Formby Times