A £1.5m project to help two threatened communities find ways to adapt to coastal erosion was officially launched this week.

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 possible ways that they can change their lifestyles, homes and businesses to adapt to the changing coastline.

With about 95 homes in Corton at risk within the next 100 years and tourism businesses relying on the local beaches, it is hoped that Pathfinder will help people come up with constructive ways to limit the effects and costs of erosion. (more…)

The owners of a cliff-top property threatened by coastal erosion in East Sussex have spent more than £80,000 moving their house inland.

Geoff and Ann Nash have moved back into the Boathouse in Birling Gap, East Dean, four months after the move began.

The front door of their 1900s-built house is now 72ft (22m) further back from the crumbling cliff. (more…)

The consultation on ‘ Coastal Change Policy’ was launched by DEFRA in June 2009 . The document set out DEFRA’s ideas for how coastal communities can successfully adapt to the impacts of coastal change and Government’s role in supporting this . All official Consultees were invited to respond by 25 September 2009.

DOC has provided DEFRA with a detailed response on behalf of its members and has urged all relevant  Local Authorities to do the same.  At the end of the consultation period copies of all responses received by Defra will be made  publicly available through their Information Resource Centre in London.

Following the consultation, the Government will analyse the responses and draft a final version of the policy. Government’s  aim is to publish this revised policy in 2010.

Read the full response from Defend Our Coast on the DOC website

A HAILSHAM county councillor has been rubbing shoulders with top policy-makers on coastal erosion and flood risk.

Cllr Roger Thomas, pictured, met government minister Huw Irranca-Davies, Environment Agency chairman Dr Paul Leinster and Sir Michael Pitt, author of the influential Pitt Report on flood risk, to discuss the future direction of the government’s policies in their specialist areas.

He was also a guest speaker at the Environment Agency’s Flood and Coastal Risk Management Conference held in Birmingham and the Local Government Association’s conference, ‘The future risk of flooding’. (more…)

Thousands of properties between Aldwick and Climping should continue to be protected from flooding.

A new flood and erosion risk strategy from the Environment Agency recommends the current level of coast protection along the frontage should be maintained during the next century.

The cost of holding the shoreline against the sea along the five miles or so is put at £32.4m in the next 20 years.

Competition for funding is tough, but failure to keep the defences at their current strength will lead to 530 properties being put at risk from a one-in-200-year flood by 2029. (more…)

Hundreds of homes could be at risk from flooding after plans to improve sea defences were blocked by a conservation group.

Natural England has opposed Arun District Council’s move to transport 30,000 square metres of shingle to Pagham, near Chichester, from the nearby Church Norton spit.

It decided the work would have a detrimental effect on the environment and wildlife of the area. (more…)

The Environment Agency will be talking about its plans for managing flood risk in the Rye area at a meeting at Winchelsea Beach Community Hall on Saturday.

Ian Nunn, from the Environment Agency, will be talking and answering questions at the meeting, which has been organised by the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. (more…)

The groynes at East Beach, Selsey, are being repaired after Chichester District Council successfully bid for funding from the Environment Agency.

The work, which will be completed before the end of March, will involve the repair and refurbishment of the 52 timber and steel groynes that control the movement of shingle along the frontage.

The scheme will also involve a number of other improvements, including minor works to the sea wall. (more…)

Plans to recycle 15,000 tons of sand and shingle at East Head have been submitted to Chichester District Council (CDC).

The works form part of the Pagham to East Head Coastal Defence Strategy which were drawn up by the Environment Agency.

The strategy aims to protect East Head and West Wittering, among other coastlines in the peninsula, from being eroded and flooded in the future. (more…)

Coastal defences that currently protect huge swathes of farm land, natural habitat and housing are to be moved inland, allowing the sea to flood into low-lying areas.

In some parts of the country, householders and land owners have been told they face spending millions of pounds of their own money to build and repair flood defences to try to protect their property. (more…)