Villagers living on a stretch of crumbling coastline gathered this week to have their say on a vision for the future of the cliffs near their homes and businesses.

Corton Village Hall was the base for a display about the local shoreline management plan (SMP) and a new consultation to look at how the proposals might affect those living in the villages between Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

The plan, which covers the coast from Kelling to Lowestoft Ness, proposes allowing the cliffs at Corton, and nearby Hopton, to erode more freely after the next 25 years. The SMP states that if the coastline at Corton is allowed to return to its natural alignment, longer term protection may then become more viable.

The new consultation is being held to consider a revised strategic environmental assessment, looking at issues including coastal flooding, impacts on the landscape and population.

Corton Parish Council chairman David Butcher, who has lived in the village since the early 1970s, said that many villagers are already well aware of the potential risks of coastal erosion.

He said: “When I first moved here, you could walk along the beach and the sand was 40 yards wide even at high tide. When the groynes collapsed in the 1980s, the beach was washed away and the sea started to erode the cliffs directly, and now there’s no beach left at all.”

The consultation closes on July 2. The documents are available online at www.north-norfolk.gov.uk.

A scheme to look at how coastal erosion will affect the future of Corton is about to get under way, funded by the national Pathfinder programme.

Waveney District Council was awarded £1.5m last year to help find new ways of supporting the community in Corton and also further down the coast at Easton Bavents.

The Pathfinder project is now up and running and the first community workshop will be held in Easton Bavents on June 30. Another workshop will be held in Corton on July 7.

Story by Hayley Mace in the Eastern Daily Press