A controversial plan to deliberately breach a Wells flood bank has been discarded by environmental planners in response to a host of objections from landowners and townspeople.

The Environment Agency (EA) is finalising a draft shoreline management plan (SMP) designed to help the North Norfolk coast adapt to rising sea levels during the next century.

One of the ideas put forward was a £4.2m scheme to reconstruct Wells’ eastern defences further inland, allowing land behind the existing east bank to flood.

It was hoped the experimental plan would increase the tidal flow through Wells harbour, flushing away silt and keeping the channel navigable while maintaining flood defences for low-lying properties.

But the idea was criticised during a four-month public consultation last year, with concerns including the loss of farmland, the impact on wildlife and the consequences of increased tidal flow on the town’s Beach Road defences.

In response to those objections, the EA has now changed its proposed policy for Wells east bank from “managed re-alignment” to “hold the line”, meaning all existing defences would be maintained in their current position.

An EA spokesman said it proved the consultation was a genuine effort to engage with the public.

“The responses to that element of the draft plan were not positive, so we have listened to what people had to say and we have changed it to a proposal of ‘hold the line’,” she said.

“It is still considered a draft plan until it is formally adopted by local councils and committees. But we don’t anticipate any further changes. I would hope that people will realise that we do listen to them and, where public opinion is weighted in one direction and we can do something about it, then we do.”

Among the objectors to the scheme were the Holkham Estate, which owns 6,100 hectares of agricultural land and the protected Holkham National Nature Reserve.

Estates director David Horton-Fawkes wrote to the EA saying that protection of farmland should have been a higher priority while assumptions relating to effects on beach and marshland wildlife habitats were “flawed”.

Another concern was raised by Wells lifeboat coxswain Allen Frary, who said an increased tidal flow could add extra pressure on the opposite west bank, which protects his crew’s only access road to their rescue boat.

Dr Marie Strong, Norfolk county councillor for the Wells division, said: “This has come as a great relief to all the parishes involved, and everyone is very grateful to the EA for listening to them. This plan has still got to go through more process before it gets to district and county councils. The EA told us there will be more research, but they have promised us regular updates.”

Story by Chris Hill in the Eastern Daily Press