Villagers living in a small coastal community are calling for help to protect their bid for relocation before the winter weather speeds up erosion of the cliffs beneath their homes.

Two homes in Easton Bavents, north of Southwold, are just six metres from the cliff edge and owners fear they are in danger of falling into the sea.

In August, the homeowners were told that Waveney District Council was seeking legal advice on creating an escrow (a document kept in the custody of a third party) to protect the owners’ residential land-use rights even if their homes are lost, helping them to relocate further inland.

The proposition is part of Waveney’s £1.5m Pathfinder project, a government-funded scheme to explore options for communities at risk of erosion. (more…)

Following on from our report last week that the Ventnor Town Council were requesting an extension to the deadline for comments on the Shoreline Management Plan, we hear further news today.

Firstly, we hear that the National Association for Local Councils (NALC) are investigating whether they can take legal action to put an injunction on the Isle of Wight council. Their aim is to have the deadline for comments extended by two weeks from 23 October. We’ll let you know once we hear more on that.

Consultation exhibition in Ventnor
We also hear that most of the travelling exhibition for the draft Shoreline Management Plan 2 is now situated in the foyer area of the Winter Gardens, on show for any local residents who did not make it along to any of the other Islandwide consultation days.

Appeal from reader for Islanders to act
In addition, we received an email from a VB reader this afternoon which, given the importance of the subject, we thought we’d share with you. We believe it has been sent widely around the Island, so you may have already seen it and joined the Facebook group mentioned at the bottom. (more…)

Erosion-threatened clifftop residents demanded “social justice” after a Norfolk council agreed a possible compensation deal that they branded “insulting”.

North Norfolk District Council agreed a plan to buy 10 homes in most danger on Beach Road at Happisburgh for demolition and offer the homeowners 40-50pc of the value of their homes if they were inland and not at risk from coastal erosion.

Councillors said it was “the best we can do” and pledged to “continue to lobby and campaign” for a better deal.

But angry campaigners called on the council to give them nothing less than 100pc to enable them to “move on” and rebuild their blighted lives. (more…)

A new report says that Spurn Point is not at risk of being washed away.

Research by the Environment Agency contradicts the established theory that the land would eventually be destroyed by coastal erosion.

The six-kilometres finger of sand juts out into the Humber Estuary from the Holderness coast. At some points it is just a few metres wide. (more…)

A stretch of coastal footpath in north Norfolk is among a handful of national pilot schemes aiming to protect seaside walkways.

But the scheme has been tagged a “waste of time and money” by a country landowners and business lobby.

A 30km length of coastline from Happisburgh to Sheringham is earmarked for the next stretches of the England Coast Path – a national trail which Natural England is promoting and using the Marine and Coast Access Act of 2009 to help preserve the route. (more…)

Work on a £1.2m project to secure the future of The Naze in Walton has moved a step closer to commencing.

Builders J Breheny Contractors have been awarded the contract to create the ‘Crag Walk’ – a 110 metre long rock walkway along the crumbling cliffs.

Coastal erosion has threatened the Site of Special Scientific Interest and its iconic Naze Tower for decades.

Work to build the walkway and a new viewing platform is due to start in early 2011 and be completed by spring. (more…)

Specialists have been brought in to measure how quickly Hunstanton’s cliffs are eroding.

The new project will use specialist laser measuring equipment to monitor how fast and where erosion is taking place.

In the Wash Shoreline Management Plan, published last year, it was judged the cliffs could erode as far inland as the B1161 Cliff Parade by the middle of this century.

But an Environment Agency summary said the chalk and carrstone cliff faces should be allowed to erode naturally to provide material to recharge the beach until they threatened clifftop properties and the road. It is believed no active intervention will be needed for another 50 to 100 years. (more…)