A COASTAL community has vowed to continue its fight to have long-term sea defences installed on its shore after the Environment Agency refused to fund the project.

Bootle beach is currently categorised under the government’s Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) as “no active intervention”.

That would mean the beach and nearby Eskmeals gun range road would be allowed to wash away.

An emergency meeting was held with villagers, Copeland Borough Council, Cumbria County Council and the Environment Agency in a bid to get the government to change the policy and defend the beach. (more…)

ULVERSTON has been left out in the cold by planners who are trying to find ways of protecting the coastline in the north-west of England, according to its mayor.

Norman Bishop-Rowe was left fuming at the fact that the town was not included in a round of consultation meetings about the proposed Shoreline Management Plan, which he claims will have a major effect on Ulverston.

The plan has been put together by the North West and North Wales Coastal Group, a partnership made up of local authorities including South Lakeland District Council, Environment Agency and Natural England, and looks at how the coastline should be managed over the next 100 years. (more…)

COMMUNITIES across Morecambe Bay are reacting to a coastal plan which outlines how the changing shoreline should be managed in future.Rising tides could threaten homes, farmland, natural habitats and a local nature reserve and South Lakeland District Council has been working on a plan of action to protect vulnerable areas.

The draft Shoreline Management Plan outlines proposals for action along the North West coast over the next 100 years as the risk of flooding and erosion increases. (more…)

COUNCILLORS have criticised the plan that will determine how the shoreline will be managed in the long-term future, claiming it does not propose enough action against coastal flooding.

Doubts were expressed over the suitability of the Shoreline Management Plan when the draft copy was put to South Lakeland District Council’s overview and scrutiny committee when it met this week in Kendal.

The plan identifies the policies for managing coastal risks in the north west for up to 100 years from now.

But councillors on the committee told Tuesday’s meeting they were unhappy with the content of the plan, which is out to public consultation. (more…)

Residents of Walney’s West Shore Park fear coastal erosion at Earnse Bay will eventually lead to their chalets being flooded.

Two years ago, temporary flood defences were put in place to protect the park.

Now government organisation Natural England has met with members of Barrow Borough Council and the owners of the park, Embra, to discuss how to build long term protection for the Earnse Bay residents.

Chris Lumb, marine delivery leader for Natural England said: “It was a very helpful and constructive meeting. (more…)

THE county council is trying to secure the future of a gun range which employs 82 people.

Fears are growing for the future of Eskmeals Gun Range as its only access road faces being washed away by the sea.

Cumbria County Council has vowed to step in and write to the Ministry of Defence, which owns the gun range; Copeland Borough Council, in charge of preventing coastal erosion; and the Environment Agency, to request funding to install sea defences or move the affected stretch of road before any damage can be caused. (more…)

The future of Cumbria’s Eskmeals firing range is in doubt because the only access road is in danger of being washed away.

The Ministry of Defence gun range, operated by QinetiQ, employs 82 people.

But the only access, from the A595 at Bootle in west Cumbria, is at risk from coastal erosion. (more…)

CAR parks, cafes and tourist developments could be built in areas of coastal erosion as plans are unveiled to relax planning laws.

The building of any development is currently prohibited within any area affected by coastal erosion, such as Earnse Bay on Walney and land near to the Eskmeals gun range near Bootle.

But Planning Minister John Healey has outlined plans to relax laws in a bid to stimulate economic growth, which could see permission being granted for tourist developments. (more…)

RESIDENTS of a chalet park threatened by coastal erosion fear a town hall bid for a government sea defences grant has failed.

But Barrow Borough Council says that although its application for cash to build permanent sea defences to provide the 500-chalet West Shore Park from storm tides and erosion has failed, it will make another one next year.

Chalet owner Norman Lumb, who has lived at West Shore Park for seven years with his wife Patricia, is on a stretch of the park not protected by a temporary sea wall.

He said: “It is very worrying because we were under the impression something was going to be done this year.

“We are very happy living here but we have seen the deterioration caused by the sea and it is worrying people,”

More than 2,000 people have so far signed a petition put together by West Shore residents demanding permanent protection from the sea, which is still eating under the road in front of the chalets in the unprotected part.

The council paid £25,000 for a temporary rock barrier to be laid last year but it only stretches for half the length of the chalet park frontage and is only designed to last a year.

Some of its boulders have already been tossed about by the sea, but residents living behind it say it has made their lives better and lessened the threat from the sea.

Many retired and elderly people are among those living on the park.

Barrow Borough Council made the bid for grant aid this year, to pay for permanent defences in front of West Shore Park, to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs.

The council’s director of regeneration, Phil Huck, will tell councillors at the town hall executive committee next Wednesday that the temporary defences are being monitored and in the event of a collapse caused by the sea repairs, would have to be considered.

But in his report he says the temporary barrier only had a design life of a year.

His report says: “Although there has been movement of some blocks, particularly around the slipway, the defence is holding up well.”

He said the failed bid for a grant for permanent defences had only been a provisional one because the deadline had coincided with a report to the council from consultants Capita on the options for defending West Shore. A more detailed bid for aid which should score better will now be made next year instead.