Protesters locked together and dressed as fish are blocking the entrance to Sizewell nuclear station in Suffolk.

They claim power company EDF Energy has not taken the possibility of flooding and coastal erosion at the site into proper consideration.

Protester Emma Bateman, 42, said: “We see coastal erosion in Suffolk and Norfolk every day, yet nuclear stations are built virtually on the beach.” (more…)

PLANS to stop flooding at a problem spot on the A12 between Ipswich and Lowestoft have been boosted by a Government minister.

Suffolk County Council is looking to alleviate flooding on the main road at Blythburgh, where the road meets the River Blyth, and is proposing to install a sluice to manage tidal flow in the area.

The road is liable to flooding during heavy rainfall and fears were heightened when the Environment Agency announced it could not continue to maintain defences along the Blyth estuary indefinitely.

Major delays on the road cause huge inconvenience for people and businesses in the area, as well as damaging economic prosperity.

The county council secured a £1.8million grant to deal with the problem and had considered 
raising the road but is now going to “develop the option” of installing a sluice. (more…)

The speed of coastal erosion at Easton Bavents in Suffolk has shocked villagers who have been told more than three metres of land was lost to the sea in the last month.

Pictures taken by aerial photographer Mike Page show how much of the cliffs have disappeared over the last 13 months.

One villager, Paul England, said it was the fastest erosion he had ever seen.

Richard Daniel reports.

Story on the BBC News website

In October 2009 two homes on a piece of land called the Retreat at Easton Bavents, near Southold were just six metres from the clifftop.But the site of the homes is now teetering on the edge of the destruction.

In just the space of four weeks a large part of the land belonging to the England family has crumbled away because of erosion caused by strong northerly winds.

Glancing at the latest photograph it could be easily concluded that the two homes, a chalet and mobile home, have fallen victim to erosion and plummeted off the cliff.

But in fact the homes off Easton Lane have been destroyed by human hands as part of a landmark agreement to help homeowners cope with losing their properties due to the long running and untlitmatley futile battle with Mother Nature. (more…)

Villagers living in a small coastal community are calling for help to protect their bid for relocation before the winter weather speeds up erosion of the cliffs beneath their homes.

Two homes in Easton Bavents, north of Southwold, are just six metres from the cliff edge and owners fear they are in danger of falling into the sea.

In August, the homeowners were told that Waveney District Council was seeking legal advice on creating an escrow (a document kept in the custody of a third party) to protect the owners’ residential land-use rights even if their homes are lost, helping them to relocate further inland.

The proposition is part of Waveney’s £1.5m Pathfinder project, a government-funded scheme to explore options for communities at risk of erosion. (more…)

Coastal farmers, fighting against regulations that prevent them from maintaining sea defences, have been given a boost after a visit by DEFRA officials.

Junior DEFRA minister Richard Benyon visited the Suffolk coast on a fact-finding mission and met landowners working together to raise money and maintain rural coastal defences.

The landowners were members of the Blyth Estuary Group, which was set up to find a cost-effective way of funding repair work.

But they have been hampered by red tape and the cost of numerous permissions required before work could start. (more…)

Environment minister Richard Benyon took a fact finding tour of Norfolk and Suffolk’s erosion-scoured coastline to hear about the problems it causes for resident and communities.

Ministers come and go at erosion hot spots with the same certainty as the tides which eat away at the crumbling cliffs.

The latest Whitehall “suit” to visit the shoreline came to find out more about how communities are coping with current coastal management strategies which see many established defences being abandoned, leaving villages in fear and blighted by plunging property prices. (more…)

COASTAL campaigners hope a “defences not damages” message will be taken on board by a new government minister visiting a trio of erosion hot spots today.

Influential local pressure groups hope Defra’s Richard Benyon will look closely and carefully at the problems of protecting seaside communities where lives and businesses depend on big beaches.

Brian Hardisty, chairman of Hopton’s coastal erosion group, said abandoning the holiday village to the sea would leave a gaping £7.5m hole in the local economy – more than enough to fund improved defences.

The junior minister will visit Scratby, Winterton and Hopton today to see for himself the consequences of erosion. (more…)

People living in a coastal village are “desperate” for help before their homes crumble into the sea and they lose any legal right to relocation.

Two homes in Easton Bavents, north of Southwold, are just 6m from the cliff edge and the owners fear they are in likely danger of succumbing to the sea.

Last year, £1.5m of state funding was allocated to Waveney District Council to explore the options available to communities at risk from erosion and potentially relocate them, as part of the Pathfinder scheme.

But a decision could be too late for the homes closest to the edge and those living in them want Waveney to support their quest to relocate now.

Paul England, whose son owns one of the homes on the edge of the cliff, said that if the properties were lost to the sea before a decision was made, the owners would lose their residential land use rights and no longer be eligible for relocation. (more…)

A £1.5million project to help protect the Suffolk coast against the threat of erosion was last night branded a “talking shop” that will not provide the immediate action desperately needed.

The Suffolk Coastal Change Pathfinder Project has been set up with government funding to help villagers in Corton, near Lowestoft, and Easton Bavents, near Southwold, look at ways to adapt to the changing shoreline.

But last night campaigners said it did not go far enough to provide the practical solutions that were needed. (more…)