COMMUNITIES in Dorset are being asked for their say on how the Environment Agency protects them from floods and coastal erosion over the next 100 years.

The agency says that local knowledge and experience are key to holding back Mother Nature as sea levels rise.

It is launching the Poole Bay, Poole Harbour and Wareham Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy, which follows a broader study that looked at flood risk and erosion between Hengistbury Head and Durlston Head.

Now, working with councils in Dorset, it is looking in more detail at what needs to be done. (more…)

A COMMITMENT has been made to raise the £21million needed to protect Lyme’s eastern side from coastal erosion.

Phase 4 of West Dorset District Council’s coastal protection works in the town will protect roads, public utilities, businesses and homes from the more serious effects of erosion and associated ground movement.

If the work were not carried out 144 properties would be destroyed within 50 years and a further 342 properties would lose their access. (more…)

Work on a £20m project to safeguard about 140 properties in a Dorset town from falling into the sea is scheduled to start in spring 2012.

The Lyme Regis coastal erosion scheme aims to stop roads, public utilities, firms and homes in the east of the town from being destroyed in 50 years’ time.

West Dorset District Council said part of the A3052, the main road into the town, is also at risk. (more…)

RESIDENTS living in the most unstable part of Lyme Regis have welcomed the news that plans to protect the East Cliff have been approved by district planners.

The £20million plans to stop the town’s eastern flank from slipping into the sea went before West Dorset District Council’s development control committee last week.

It is the next major step in work to improve the landslip areas at Church and East Cliffs and protect the town, its infrastructure and historic structures. (more…)

‘HOLD the line at Hengistbury Head – or increase the risk of a flooding disaster’.

These men are fighting a proposed change in the coastal protection plan.

They say in time it could lead to the flooding of Christchurch Harbour, and the erosion of Hengistbury Head. (more…)

DORSET’S Jurassic Coast is set to benefit from a £376,500 cash injection to help combat erosion and rising sea levels posed by climate change.

Dorset County Council environment chiefs teamed up with their East Devon counterparts to bid for a share of millions of pounds of Government cash.

The cash will be used on projects to benefit Preston Beach in Weymouth, Ringstead, Charmouth, Seatown and Swanage. (more…)

FLOOD defences and the future shape of the Dorset coastline will come under the spotlight with a series of road shows next week.

Residents across Purbeck, Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and the New Forest have been invited to view the Shoreline Management Plan (SMS), which covers the coastline from Hurst Spit to Durlston Head.

The blueprint, which is now being consulted on, is one of 49 plans across the country which will help the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs form their flood and coastal defence strategies for decades to come.

It takes on particular significance this week after the devastation caused by widespread flooding in Cumbria. (more…)

BOURNEMOUTH’S Hengistbury Head heritage site will continue to erode and eventually disappear if nothing is done to protect it, a report has predicted.

Part, if not all, of the Site of Scientific Interest could be lost over the next 100 to 200 years as nature takes its toll on the coastline.

The report commissioned by Bournemouth Borough Council is part of their Shoreline Management Plan and looks at whether they should be protecting the coastline in the short term. (more…)

MEMBERS of the public can have their say on long term plans to protect the South Devon coastline.

Organisations involved in coastal management, sea defences and erosion across a large (400km) section of South Devon and Dorset are working together as a coastal group to produce a shoreline management plan.

Graeme Smith, chairman of the group, said: “Individuals, organisations and businesses can contribute their views on how and where we should defend the South Devon and Dorset coastline.

“People will have a say in how the local coastline is managed and defended for the next 100 years.”

The coastal group, which is led by Teignbridge Council, is running a public consultation on the plan until Friday, July 24. For more information visit www.sdadcag.org

Story in This is South Devon

EXMOUTH residents get the chance to have their say on major plans that could eventually see Queens Drive ‘moved’ back to combat coastal erosion.

The Shoreline Management Plan is part of a national drive to shore-up Britain’s coastal defences over the next 100-years, and a series of public events will be held in June.

All the agencies involved in coastal management, sea defences and erosion across a 400km section of the South Devon and Dorset Coast are working together. (more…)