Funding for vital flood defence schemes in the South West is to be cut by 16 per cent next year, the Government has confirmed.

But officials refused to produce a list of projects that will not get state aid as a result of the region losing £6 million in 2011/12.

Ministers announced that £521 million would be spent on protecting homes and businesses in England from April.

It is down from around £590million spent on capital and revenue in previous years. Of this, £34 million has been allocated to the wider South West – an area that includes Devon and Cornwall as well as Bristol, Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset.

It represents a 16 per cent drop from the previous year’s allocation of £40 million.

Labour claims ministers are taking a “reckless gamble with people’s homes and businesses” as many schemes had been cancelled nationally.

As the devastation in recent years wrought on Boscastle, North Cornwall; Ottery St Mary, East Devon; and mid Cornwall indicate, the Westcountry is particularly susceptible to flooding.

While funding has decreased, the Environment Agency, the quango that oversees the projects, insisted major schemes in the region would go ahead.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs produced an “indicative” list of 33 projects in Devon and Cornwall that are in line for the Whitehall cash.

They include ongoing big schemes such as tidal defences in Shaldon, South Devon, on Teignmouth estuary and in Truro, which will provide protection to hundreds of properties.

The South West Regional Flood Defence Committee is to decide precisely which schemes get how much money over the next few months.

Geoff Boyd, flood and coastal risk manager for the Environment Agency in the South West, said: “We will continue to protect as many homes and businesses as we can. We have plans to work on 147 river and coastal flood defence schemes in the next financial year which, when completed, will increase protection to thousands of homes.”

The coalition Government says it has done its utmost to shield spending on flood defences in the spending review.

The Government expects to spend at least £1.2 billion on flooding and coastal erosion over the next four years and improve protection for at least 145,000 homes, environment minister Richard Benyon said.

“Inevitably, it has been necessary to find savings in all areas of Government expenditure,” he added.

From the following year, the Government will introduce a new funding mechanism where the state will not pay 100 per cent of the costs, which ministers hope will bring more schemes forward.

Mary Creagh, Shadow Environment Secretary, said: “The Tory-led Government are taking a reckless gamble with people’s homes and businesses by cutting the flood defence budget by 27 per cent in cash terms.”

In the House of Commons, Stephen Gilbert, Liberal Democrat MP for St Austell and Newquay, whose constituency was battered by floods last year, received assurances from ministers on funding for flood plans and wardens.

He said: “In St Blazey last year, we saw that community flood plans and volunteer flood wardens were able to help protect property and people.”

Story in the West Briton

Burnham’s sea wall will need to be replaced “with a far higher structure” to protect the town from coastal flooding in the future, the Environment Agency revealed this week as it outlined its long-term proposals for the next few decades.

Dozens of Burnham-On-Sea residents, including Burnham-On-Sea.com, attended a special meeting in the town’s Princess Hall on Tuesday (October 13th), where the agency unveiled a draft version of its Somerset Shoreline Management Plan, which outlines its plans for our coastal defences.

At the event, the Environment Agency’s Angela Proctor said its recommended policy for Burnham is to “continue to minimise the risk of erosion and flooding, through a ‘hold the line’ policy.”

“This will likely involve the maintenance of the sea wall and embankment defences along the open coast and the north bank of the River Brue, as well as dune management at Berrow and Brean to reduce the impacts of recreational pressure on the dunes.”

Angela Proctor also said that in the long term, “the sea wall at Burnham will be replaced by a much larger structure when the existing structure reaches the end of its effective life.” There was no indication of when this might be.

It added that higher defences may also be required along the north bank of the River Brue to address the issue of sea level rises.

Almost 100 people attended the event, including local county councillors John Woodman and Alan Ham (pictured top with the EA’s John Buttivant).

Cllr Ham told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Flooding is a great concern for many people living across the Burnham area. It’s often the case that national plans do not take into consideration local views, so it was good to see many people attending this event and making their views known.”

Project manager Angela Proctor from the Environment Agency said: “It is vital that we engage as many people as possible who have an interest in this issue during these consultation events, to ensure we are making informed and sustainable decisions.”

For further information on the Somerset Shoreline Management Plan, including a copy of the draft document, visit here. The three month public consultation period for Somerset runs until January 8th, 2010.

Story on the Burnham-On-Sea.com website

Residents in Burnham-On-Sea will today (Tuesday, October 13th) be able to have their say about the threat of coastal erosion and how our coastline and its estuaries should be managed.

The Environment Agency is holding an event in Burnham’s Princess Hall to present a draft version of the Somerset Shoreline Management Plan, which considers flood and erosion risk management.

The event will include formal presentations and discussions between 3pm and 5pm and an open exhibition, which anyone is welcome to visit, between 5pm and 7.30pm.

“A Shoreline Management Plan provides an assessment of the risks to people and the developed, historic and natural environment, resulting from the evolution of the coast and estuaries,” said project manager Angela Proctor from the Environment Agency.

“It is vital that we engage as many people as possible who have an interest in this issue during these consultation events, to ensure we are making informed and sustainable decisions.”

Coastal Group chairman Humphrey Temperley added: “Coastal erosion is nothing new – communities have suffered its effects throughout history and it will go on happening. We need to look now at how we can cope with it over the next 100 years, given what we know about the resources that will be available and how the coast will change.”

For further information on the Somerset Shoreline Management Plan, including a copy of the draft document, visit here. The three month public consultation period for Somerset will run through until January 8th, 2010.

Story on the Burnham-On-Sea.com website

PEOPLE living between Hartland Point in Devon and Anchor Head, near Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, are being asked for their views on how this stretch of coastline and its estuaries should be managed.

A series of events is being held to present the draft North Devon and Somerset Shoreline Management Plan (SMP), which considers flood and erosion risk management.

The following meetings are being held:

* Tuesday 13 October , Princess Hall Theatre, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, for the coast and estuaries between Hinkley Point and Weston-super-Mare.

* Wednesday 14 October, Northfield Hotel, Minehead, Somerset, for the coast between Foreland Point and Hinkley Point.

* Thursday 15 October, The Cedars Inn, Barnstaple, Devon, for the coast and estuaries between Hartland Point and Foreland Point.

Each event will include formal presentations and discussions between 3pm and 5pm and an open exhibition, which anyone is welcome to visit, between 5pm and 7:30pm.

A further event is being held in conjunction with the Environment Agency Steart project on Tuesday , October 27, at Otterhampton Village Hall, Somerset. This is an open exhibition, between 2.30pm and 7:30pm, which will cover issues specific to the Steart Peninsula.

“A Shoreline Management Plan provides an assessment of the risks to people and the developed, historic and natural environment, resulting from the evolution of the coast and estuaries,” said project manager Angela Proctor from the Environment Agency.

“It is vital that we engage as many people as possible who have an interest in this issue during these consultation events, to ensure we are making informed and sustainable decisions.

Coastal group chairman Humphrey Temperley said: “Coastal erosion is nothing new – communities have suffered its effects throughout history and it will go on happening. We need to look now at how we can cope with it over the next 100 years, given what we know about the resources that will be available and how the coast will change.”

The events are open to all stakeholders and are free to attend. For further information on the SMP, including a copy of the draft document, please visit www.ndascag.org. Copies of the document will also be available for viewing at your local library, council office or Environment Agency office.

The three month public consultation for North Devon and Somerset SMP, will run through until January 8, 2010.

Story in the North Devon Gazette

More than 20,000 homes in North Somerset are at significant risk of flooding, according to a new report by the Environment Agency.

The report reveals that North Somerset is the second place at most risk of flooding in the whole of the South West with 20, 415 properties at risk.

The figures reveal one in three properties in the area could go under water as climate change increases coastal erosion and a rise in river levels.

A map published by the agency highlights areas such as Weston Bay, Uphill, Sand Bay, Brean Down and Kewstoke at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea without defences.

In the northern sector of the district, areas such as Clevedon, Kenn, Tickenham and Kingston Seymour are also under threat from flooding.

The district of Sedgemoor comes in seventh in the league table of top 10 places in the South West susceptible to flooding, with an estimated 8,092 properties at risk.

The report comes accompanied with a call from the agency for spending on flooding defences in the region to rise to £1billion by 2035.

Since 2002, £377m has been spent, including the £29m seafront defences in Weston which are due to be finished by the end of next year and will protect 4,500 properties from coastal flooding.

The Environment Agency has also spent £3m in Clevedon at Marshall’s Bank and the Land Yeo Outfall to install better sea defences along the sea wall to protect 3,000 homes.

And in the Sedgemoor area, £30m will be spent in the next five years to improve protection for 1,400 homes. The report follows on from the Pitt Review done after the devastating floods of 2007. The review highlighted areas at risk of flooding and the need for investment in defences.

Environment Agency chiefs have said the figures are a stark reminder of the risk to properties in the region.

South West Environment Agency regional director Richard Creswell said: “These projections remind us of the choices we face in ensuring a sustainable future for our fragile planet.

“A failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions will lead to a battle for survival for mankind and many other species across the globe by the end of this century; and we will feel the effects here in the UK too.

“The latest UK climate change data shows the risk of flooding and coastal erosion will continue to increase in future due to rising sea levels and more frequent and heavy storms, and there are important decisions for us all to take about how to manage these risks to protect people and businesses.”

North Somerset Council deputy leader, Councillor Elfan Ap Rees, backed the calls for more investment in flood defences across the district.

Mr Ap Rees said: “Any future government will have to make funds available to tackle the threat of flooding.”

Story on the This is Bristol website

RESIDENTS have the opportunity to comment on how the land surrounding the Severn Estuary should be managed in years to come.

Interested parties will be able to put their views across at a consultation meeting which will take place at the Paget Rooms in Penarth on Wednesday, June 10, from 2pm to 6pm.

There is no registration process and you can simply turn up on the day to have your say.

Issues to be discussed include coping with possible future floods, and coastal erosion on and around the Severn Estuary.

The event will be hosted by the Severn Estuary Coastal Group (SECG) in partnership with the Vale Council and the Environment Agency.

The SECG is currently running a large-scale review and consultation, in Wales and the South-West of England, into the management of the Severn Estuary’s coast in which the meeting in Penarth will play a key part.

Once the review and consultation period finishes, a new ‘shoreline management plan’ will be drawn-up for local authorities and regulators – including the Vale Council to adopt, replacing the current decade-old plan.

Cllr Geoff Cox, Vale Council cabinet member for visible and building services, said: “I welcome this opportunity for the public to be involved in the consultation process for the review of the Shoreline Management Plan for the Severn Estuary, and encourage those interested in the management of the coast from Penarth Head to Lavernock Point to actively participate in the review.” Dave Harris, Chair of the Severn Estuary Coastal Group said: “There are thousands of residential and commercial properties in the Severn Estuary at risk from flooding, erosion and climate change. We need to plan now for changes in the future.

“It is important that the decisions we all make today do not put additional burdens on future generations. People need to be able to plan ahead and make decisions about their businesses, land, homes and investments.”

Ken Tatem, project manger for the Environment Agency said: “We’d like to encourage anyone who lives or works around the estuary to get involved in this consultation process.

“Not just to make sure we’re making informed, lasting decisions, but more importantly, to help the coastal group come as close to consensus as we can on crucial issues like protecting against coastal erosion and flooding.”

Story in the Penarth Times

More information can be found on the Severn Estuary Coastal Group website

People in North Devon and Somerset are being asked for their opinions on how the coastline should be managed over the next 100 years.

A review of the original Shoreline Management Plan, completed in 1998, is under way.

It aims to help reduce risks to people, property and the historic and natural environment associated with coastal processes such as flooding and erosion.

The new plan will cover the coast between Hartland Point and Anchor Head.

Angela Proctor of the Environment Agency said: “Coastal erosion is nothing new so we need to look now at how we can cope with it over the next hundred years given what we know about the resources that will be available, and how the coast will change.”

Feedback events are due to be held in Somerset at Minehead Rugby Club on 21 January and at Laburnum House Hotel, West Huntspill, on 22 January.

Story on the BBC News website

PEOPLE from West Somerset are being asked for their views on how their coastline should be managed over the next 100 years.

The consultation is a review of the original Shoreline Management Plan (SMP), completed in 1998.

Anyone interested in airing their views can attend a meeting at Minehead Rugby Club on Wednesday from 4pm-6pm.

For more information on the SMP, click here.

Story by Lloyd Vaughan in the Somerset County Gazette

Almost 200 miles of some of the most precious stretches of south-west England’s coastline are threatened by rising sea levels, it is claimed today.

Fabulous beaches and cliffs, harbours and buildings are in danger. At least 142 scheduled ancient monuments, 111 listed buildings and one historic garden lie within a “risk zone”. More than 100 miles of public rights of way have already been lost, or could be soon.

The claims are made in Shifting Shores, a report published by the National Trust, which warns that 173 miles of the coastline that it cares for in south-west England could be lost or damaged. Amongst the world-famous sites in danger is St Michael’s Mount, the island off Penzance in Cornwall. The trust says the causeway which is used to cross to the site at low tide may be lost within 45 years.

A boathouse at Agatha Christie’s summer house in Devon could be gone within 15 years, while there are fears that salt water will soon spill into the lagoon at Brownsea Island in Dorset, which would mean the end of a crucial habitat for migrating birds.

Not far away, the trust is looking at spending almost £4m on moving the visitor facilities at Studland in Dorset back from the crumbling coast.

The National Trust, which looks after 450 miles of coastline in the south-west, admits it is already too late for some sites. For example, when the grade II listed harbour at Mullion in south Cornwall is next badly damaged, it will be made safe but not repaired.

Phil Dyke, the National Trust’s coastal and marine adviser, said the government, local authorities and communities needed to think about what would be happening not just now but in 20, 50 or 100 years’ time. “We know how important the coast is for people who live in and visit the south-west. The prospect of the coastline changing is very worrying.”

Three years ago the trust launched a campaign to highlight the problems of coastline erosion at its sites. Today’s report says there has been little progress. “We still have yet to see policy and decision-makers really wake up to the impact of coastal change,” it claims.

Dyke added: “We have seen some positive steps such as the launch of new guidance on producing shoreline management plans and proposals to review planning guidance on the coast. The draft marine bill and a possible flood and water bill should also offer opportunities to develop new, innovative approaches to the management of coastal change. But there’s still more to do. With nearly 30 agencies or authorities involved, achieving a coherent planning and management policy along our coast is difficult. We have yet to see the integrated, long-term planning at a local level.”

To highlight its concerns the trust has published a list of 21 sites it believes are at risk. The 13 on the “high risk” list include many of south-west England’s favourite destinations. Among them is Westbury Court Garden in Gloucestershire, a rare and beautiful example of a Dutch water garden dating back to the 17th century.

The report also suggests that in some areas, good can come out of rising sea levels. At Porlock Bay in Somerset, the breaching of a shingle bar resulted in the development of a new area of salt marsh.

It concludes it is necessary to plan at least 50 years ahead. In many cases people, businesses and habitats will have to be relocated. “In some cases this will mean undoing past mistakes, taking out hard defences and letting the coast realign naturally.”

At high risk

1 Westbury Court Garden, Glos.

2 Bossington, Somerset

3 Lundy Island access road, Devon

4 Godrevy cliffs and coves, Cornwall

5 Penberth Cove, Cornwall

6 St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall

7 Mullion Harbour, Cornwall

8 Cotehele Quay, Cornwall

9 South Milton Sands, Devon

10 Black Ven, Lyme Regis, Dorset

11 Golden Cap, Dorset

12 Studland, Dorset

13 Brownsea Island, Dorset

Story by Steven Morris in the Guardian

Also fetaured in the Telegraph