Environment minister Richard Benyon has promised to help resolve the issue of whether a sea wall can be built to protect a Lancashire hamlet.

Conservative MP David Morris told the Commons that residents of Sunderland Point were being blocked from building the wall by government agencies.

He said a wall would help to reduce coastal erosion by 1m (3ft) a year.

Mr Benyon said he would talk to Natural England and the Environment Agency “as a matter of urgency”. (more…)

An MP concerned about erosion of part of the Lancashire coastline is raising the issue in the Commons later.

David Morris, MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, said 1m (about 3ft) of coast at Sunderland Point was lost each year.

He said several homes needed more protection from the elements, and local residents should be allowed to help build a sea wall. (more…)

MORECAMBE, Heysham, Sunderland Point, Bolton-le-Sands, Silverdale and other settlements on our stretch of Morecambe Bay have been left out of a coastal erosion consultation.

Geraldine Smith, the MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, has picked up on the omission and has arranged a meeting with the Environment Agency and the city council to make sure public consultation is carried out.

The meeting will take place on Friday at 1pm. (more…)

Waves, tides and storms regularly batter the wild coastline of Lancashire. It is nothing new for the landowners who see their land lost inch by inch every year.

But now this destructive climate cycle has left the shores crumbling and communities fearing they could be lost under water forever.

After years of protecting the shoreline, local authorities could wave the white flag at mother nature as they consider leaving the future of the Lancashire coastline in the hands of the gods.

Lancaster City Council is working with the North West England and North Wales Coastal Group, the Environment Agency and other organisations to draw up a Shoreline Management Plan (SMP), to establish the best way to manage the changing coast, now and for future generations.

Plans are to either to maintain the current coastal defences or allow the defences to weaken and let swathes of agricultural land turn to marshland. (more…)

Four Lancashire dairy farms covering 1035 acres could disappear under the sea if the Environment Agency gives the go ahead for a shoreline management plan along the coast of Morecambe Bay.

The scheme, which will affect 10 farms in total and destroy 17 properties and four large caravan parks, is part of a review of sea defences along a stretch of north-west coastline south of Lancaster. The current sea-wall embankment runs for about five miles.

One of the farms that would be lost is John and Brenda Lawson’s Bank End Farm at Cockerham, which stands virtually on the shoreline of Morecambe Bay. This highly productive dairy farm carries around 350 cows.

“It’s unbelievable that someone has come up with a plan that will mean our farms and the future of our families will disappear under the sea and none of us has received a letter or a phone call so that we could at least be represented at the [planning] meetings,” said Mrs Lawson. (more…)

PARTS of Morecambe could disappear beneath the waves if rising sea levels continue over the next 100 years, according to a new report.

Experts looking at the erosion of the North West coastline say roads and railways in the town could be affected by coastal flooding. Schools and potentially, the Queen Victoria Hospital Centre are all in the coastal flood risk zone. (more…)

Drs Richard Kingston and Adam Barker, University of Manchester’s School of Environment and Development, have launched a website where citizens and organisations can view maps showing how various coastal areas will likely be affected by rising seas. The maps also provide links to proposed policies for the North West England and North Wales Shoreline Management Plan as well as to a form for offering public comments on those proposals. (more…)

Experts at The University of Manchester are to produce a detailed picture of the public’s views on the uncertain future of a 250-mile-stretch of coastline.

Large parts of the coast between Anglesey and Carlisle are likely to be adversely affected by rising sea levels and erosion over the next hundred years.

The area is home to some of Britain’s most celebrated wildlife, important transport links, densely populated coastal towns and cities and the nuclear reactor at Sellafield.

Drs Richard Kingston and Adam Barker from the University’s School of Environment and Development have launched a website which allows the public to add their views to an online coastal map. (more…)

A HUGE £60m transformation of Rossall’s sea defences in Fleetwood has been announced.

Plans have been revealed to replace the concrete sea wall – which was built more than 30 years ago – with a structure to rival the award-winning People’s Promenade at Cleveleys.

Cash for the multi-million pound proposals has already been earmarked in the Environment Agency’s budget for a three-year programme, due to start in 2011. (more…)