A huge pile of sand and shingle has been moved past Felixstowe pier over the last few nights as part of a £10 million Environment Agency project. The new beach material, which was stockpiled just south of the pier earlier, is being used to recharge the beach north of the pier, as far as the war memorial opposite the town hall.

More information on www.felixstowetv.com including video clips

A Management Plan for the Suffolk Coast and Heaths, the officially designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) stretching from Kessingland to the Stour estuary has just been published. It is part of the family of protected landscapes that make up Britain’s finest countryside. At the heart of the plan, is a new twenty-year vision that sets out in detail the aims for the conservation of this beautiful landscape. The plan brings together the work of a 26 member Partnership that includes Natural England, Local Authorities, conservation organisations, community groups and businesses in the area.

More information can be obtained on the Suffolk Coast and Heaths website

The infrastructure network in the UK, including power stations, water plants, and transport systems is still far too vulnerable to flooding events according to a report, Flooding: Engineering Resilience, by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

In a section concentrating on the East of England, it also comments that:

“No other area of the UK is in such real and immediate danger from flooding as the East of England. It’s at risk from all sides: coastal erosion and flooding, tidal surges, river flooding and overflowing drains in towns and cities.

“In November 2007 Great Yarmouth and Ipswich came within 120mm of being swamped by a North Sea tidal surge. A controversial ‘managed realignment’ could sacrifice 6,000 ha of the Norfolk coastline to rising sea levels, according to the Environment Agency.”

Full details on the ICE website

The old English Nature website which hosted the original 2003 Coastal Habitat Management Plans (CHaMPs) and had been unavailable for a few months is now back online. The site had apparently been victim to malicious damage which has taken all this time to rectify.

The Winterton Dunes Coastal Habitat Management Plan is a contributor to thinking behind the leaked Natural England report with the infamous ‘option 4′ considering the implications of intentionally withdrawing sea defences to Potter Heigham and Stalham, resulting in ‘embayment of the Upper Thurne Basin’.

From the conclusions:

Given the long term (>50 years) potential for changes to the line of defence and the questionable sustainability of maintaining the existing coastal configuration along the Horsey-Winterton frontage, brief consideration has been given to the option of allowing breach of the dune system and the partial flooding of the northern Broadland area. While, clearly, this would have major implications of a socio-economic nature, it is apparent that the consequences for nature conservation and ecological interests would be of huge and beneficial significance. This is seen as a potential long term option opportunity that offers the scope for major ecological gain at a national level and in a location where, perhaps, socio-economic and land-planning issues may be more compatible with the overall vision than potentially similar large-scale habitat creation opportunities in other areas of eastern and southern England. It is clear though, that further study of the proposal would be required, particularly with respect to the viability of other long term coastal defence options. In this context it is important that continued monitoring of the Winterton frontage is undertaken in order to determine the accuracy of the predictions made in this CHaMP. Only with additional and longer term datasets can informed decisions on the future sustainability and strategic direction of coastal defence requirements be made for this stretch of the Norfolk coastline.

The original documents are now available again for download at http://www.english-nature.gov.uk/livingwiththesea/champs/pilots.asp

From a press release on the Natural England website:

On launching its ‘State of the Natural Environment‘ report, Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England, said:

“England needs a new approach to conservation if we are to tackle effectively the modern pressures on land created by climate change and development. The natural environment is increasingly under threat, both within and especially away from protected areas.

“We need to find ways to manage our landscape to create a mosaic of uses so that we can help wildlife survive - be it through a new ‘national park’ around the length of England’s coastline, better use of the green belt or improved use of public funding for farmers to deliver a better natural environment.

“If we don’t act, there’s a real danger some of our most precious wildlife will be lost forever and our lives will be poorer for it,” concluded Helen Phillips.

From the Eastern Region section:

Meeting the challenge in the East of England region

We will work collaboratively with others for a better quality of life, creating a prosperous, healthy, socially cohesive region with an attractive, high quality environment. We will provide leadership within the region on actions needed to protect, enhance and enjoy the natural environment.

We will work closely with other partners, such as the Environment Agency, to get our SSSIs into favourable condition, particularly those suffering from coastal and water related pressures.

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We will work with partner agencies and local communities to understand the impacts of climate change and develop solutions, including a resilient, natural coastline.

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Coastal erosion campaigners have hailed the efforts of a cross-party group of Norfolk MPs as “a whole chunk of England standing together saying we cannot let Norfolk go.”

Jim Bratton of Scratby’s coastal erosion group said Great Yarmouth MP Tony Wright had put the case for his stretch of coastline well at a commons debate broadcast live on Tuesday.

Mr Wright was one of a group of MPs who pledged to fight on after failing to win reassurances or concessions from the government over the mooted surrendering of 25 square miles of the county to the sea. (more…)

To provide a facility that campaigning groups around the coast can use and promote a combined cause, Happisburgh based Coastal Concern Action Group have launched the National Voice of Coastal Communities.

Any group campaigning about coastal related issues are welcome to join in.