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.

The project was officially launched in Lowestoft on Tuesday and over the next 10 months, people living and working in the two villages will have the chance to take part in workshops and events aimed at creating ideas and planning for the future.

The scheme, which is being led by Waveney District Council with Suffolk County council and Suffolk Coastal Futures, is one of 15 Pathfinder projects across the country which was set up with money from the department for food, environment and rural affairs last year.

Ken Sale, Waveney council’s portfolio holder for the greenest county, said: “The issue of coastal erosion is pressing and emotive. The government is committed to effective management of our coastline and will defend against erosion where it is sustainable and affordable.

“However there will be some locations where it is not sustainable to build new defence structures, or to maintain existing ones. Where this is the case, communities will need to start preparing for, and managing, change.

“In this current climate of tight budgets and spending cuts it is reassuring to be granted this fund, which will be used to support community engagement and planning.”

A new Pathfinder website, which features information about erosion, details of the Pathfinder events and an interactive forum so that local people can put forward their ideas, has also been launched at www.waveney-pathfinder.com.

Story by Haley Mace in the Advertiser

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.

The couple moved into the Boathouse 16 years ago, despite knowing that the cliff was eroding.

The original Boathouse is thought to have been demolished and replaced in the 1970s.

Mr Nash, 75, said: “Each year it was getting a bit closer and we thought it was about time we moved in case there was a major case of erosion.”

He said he called about 10 organisations including Defra and the Environment Agency about grants for moving his house but no funding was available and he had to fund the project himself.

Builder Bill Coote said the wooden building had to be split in two before it was moved.

Story with video clip on BBC News

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

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’.

Cllr Thomas takes a keen interest in these issues, and sits on both the southern regional flood defence committee and the Sussex sea fisheries district committee as well as chairing the Local Government Association’s coastal issues special interest group.

He said East Sussex had a ‘volatile coastline’ that needed constant vigilance against erosion, flooding and rising sea levels. He added he was also keenly aware of the difficulties faced by the ‘ever-dwindling fishing industry’.
Cllr Thomas said, “It is imperative the Environment Agency and DEFRA listens to the views of the coastal authorities.

“I am lucky to have 77 coastal local authorities backing me. As a result, we have been recognised as the premier lobbying group in England.

“However it is difficult to obtain extra funding from the Treasury and monies already promised have been considerably devalued.”

In the past, Cllr Thomas has spearheaded campaigns to ensure suitable schemes were in place to safeguard such coastal areas as Pevensey Bay and Sovereign Harbour.

Story in the Eastbourne Herald

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.

That number will increase steeply to 3,204 in a century if nothing is done because of the rising sea level and an increased number and intensity of storms.

James Humphreys, the agency’s Solent and South Downs area manager, said: “People who live and work along this stretch of coastline are faced with the real threat of flooding and coastal erosion.

“We have to take a long-term view to manage such risks responsibly.”

Roger Elkins, Arun District Council’s cabinet member for community safety, said: “Although the funding issue is a concern, this strategy is good news for the residents of Aldwick, Bognor, Felpham and Middleton.”

Here’s the strategy in detail for each area. The number of properties at risk in 20 and 100 years if defences are not kept up is in brackets:

* Aldwick (70,310) – Maintenance of the beach is the key to maintaining the flood and erosion defences. New groynes will be needed in the next five to ten years. The frontage at Dark Lane to Marine Drive West will be the focus of capital works.

* Bognor Regis and Felpham (7,888) – The current high standard of protection will remain in a century if it is maintained. Capital works will be carried out around Canning Road because of its loss of beach. The beach in front of The Esplanade is in good condition.

* Middleton (341,938) – The maintain recommendation is a downgrade from the improve suggestion in the 2003 strategy. But this failed to attract government backing.

The beach is mostly in a poor condition and will require to be restored. Capital works will be needed around Sea Way and Old Point because of the exposed breastwork and sea walls.

* Elmer (17,668) – Some recycling of shingle will be required to replace the beach material lost from the bays behind some of the breakwaters. Pagham is included in a separate strategy.

But others are not so lucky…

Parts of Climping could be abandoned to the sea.

The Environment Agency is proposing to stop maintaining the village’s sea defences two years after its final strategy is published.

Even during those two years, only routine maintenance would be completed. Major repairs caused by a severe storm would not be carried out.

The result of doing nothing in the long term will see farmland increasingly flooded.

The agency says a small number of properties in the Atherington area are likely to suffer a heightened risk of flooding.

No buildings will be lost to erosion after a century, but some local access tracks and land closest to the sea may be affected.

The agency states the £10.4m cost in the next 20 years of keeping the defences to their present standard cannot be justified.

Henry Burrell is the Climping resident whose home at Atherington Farm is the nearest to the beach in Climping Street.

He said: “I am very disappointed by the Environment Agency’s proposals. I have met with them and it was apparent that was their favoured strategy for this area.

“I have no idea how bad the flooding will be and I’m not sure how long it’s going to take before we see any difference. The sea level is not rising a lot every year.”

Mr Burrell is a member of Climping Parish Council which will debate the proposed flood risk strategy at a coming meeting.

The frontage between the River Arun mouth to the Ford railway bridge will be maintained to the current standard to protect properties in northern Climping.

Story in the Bognor Regis Observer

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.

The £450,000 scheme would have helped bolster the beach near Pagham Yacht Club to reduce the risk of flooding.

But now the council faces an even larger bill and potential delays as it is forced to try to import the shingle from out at sea.

The delay means that the work, which was due to be carried out in September, may not start until next year, leaving hundreds of homes open to the elements.

Ray Radmall, the chairman of Pagham Parish Council, said: “We urgently need a sustainable long term solution to Pagham’s recent erosion problem.

“The Arun District Council scheme would have bought crucial time for essential studies to be carried out in the quest for such a solution.

“Just when we thought that a first step in that process was being put in place the rug has been pulled from under us. We must all re-double our efforts to overcome this setback.”

If the north of the Pagham harbour entrance is allowed to erode, 160 homes built on the shingle bank would be at risk.

It would expose the harbour defences to waves and threaten a further 350 properties as well as flooding more than 300 hectares of land.

The district council said it was working to try to get defences in place by the winter.

Roger Elkins, Arun’s deputy leader, said: “We had been working with a range of partners and were aware of the importance of the environmental designations which relate to the protected species of birds in this area and the formation of the spit itself.

“We had ensured that these issues were taken account of in our study of the area.

“It is very frustrating to find ourselves in a situation where we need shingle to protect the residents of Pagham but we are having to get it from offshore, at much greater cost, when there is a huge quantity of shingle sitting just a few hundred metres away.”

Story by Samuel Underwood in The Argus

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.

It starts at 7.30pm.

Attending will be members of the Defend Our Coast Association, who hold their AGM at the Guild Hall in Lydd on Friday at 7.30pm.

Richard Holmes, from the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, said: “There are some concerns in the area that the Environment Agency is not taking enough action to protect homes and property from flooding.”

The Defend Our Coast Association say the Government’s Shoreline Management Plan could increase flooding in the Rye area.

Brigitte Bass, from the Association, said: “The published Shoreline Management Plan contained various recommendations which caused great concerns to areas all along our stretch of coast.

“Its recommendations of ‘Managed Retreat” in some areas has put the Marsh at an increased risk of flooding and blighted properties.

“We are campaigning to put pressure on the Government to protect the Marsh and Rye area coast-line, speak on behalf of local people and keep local people informed about any progress made with the various Government departments and ultimately to achieve adequate coastal defences for the Marsh, thus preserving it for future generations to come.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said, last year: “This is one of the largest areas at risk from flooding in Southern England.”

For further details visit www.defendourcoast.org.uk.

Story in the Rye & Battle Observer

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.

Councillor Pieter Montyn, in charge of environment at Chichester District Council, said: ‘Coming so soon after the conclusion of the exhaustive public consultation, this is great news.

‘The council reacted extremely quickly when it discovered that it could bid for funding.

‘We issued detailed reports to the Environment Agency outlining our case, including a project appraisal report and a design for the scheme.

‘This means that we can put our plans into action straight- away, extending the life of the groyne field which we hope will last for the next 10 years.’

The plans are part of the Pagham to East Head Coastal Defence Strategy, which has recently been adopted by the council.

The strategy looks at the requirements for managing the coast over the next hundred years.

Story in the Portsmouth Today website

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.

Recycled material from the north of East Head would be transported to the south to create a bigger barrier and strengthen the coastline. It is hoped that if the plans are approved, the work would begin in March.

John Davis, Chichester Harbour Conservancy master, said: “We are delighted a sensible coastal strategy has been agreed. Now we have to put it into practice.

“It’s part of a sweep of measures which provides immediate strength to the most vulnerable part of East Head and at the Hinge.

“In a big storm it could all go in one night. It is a regional and national asset.”

An adaptive management approach for East Head and West Wittering was chosen by the East Head Coastal Issues Advisory Group which is outlined in the Coastal Defence Strategy.

The group was formed to draw up coastline protection plans for the coastline in East Head and West Wittering.

The adaptive management approach chosen will mean close monitoring of sea levels and adjusting methods on how to protect the land against the sea over a period of time.

West Wittering Parish Council chairman Bob Hutton said: “The land gets taken away by the tide and sand gets brought back.

“More sand will return to the land when the tide comes in. A similar exercise was carried out exactly two years ago and proved successful. There’s quite a lot of work to be done.”

Membership of the East Head Coastal Issues Advisory Group is made up of the Environment Agency, Chichester District Council, Natural England, Chichester Harbour Conservancy, West Wittering Parish Council, the Woodger Trust, West Wittering Estate, Cakeham Manor Estate and the National Trust.

The Harbour Conservancy will act as the contractor to undertake the works on behalf of the group.

Some of the partnership members will fund the works.

To find out more about the plans log on to the planning section of the district council’s website www.chichester.gov.uk and quote the reference number WW/08/05043/REG3. Alternatively, contact the local authority’s planning department on 01243 534734.

Story in the West Sussex County Times

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.

Among the areas affected are Medmerry, a popular tourist destination, near Selsey, West Sussex, where 612 acres are to be surrendered to the encroaching sea, and East Head, another nearby beauty spot where residents have been told their homes will no longer be protected.

Along the Humber estuary, around 800 homes scattered along the shoreline are to be left at the mercy of the sea within the next 20 years. At the end of that period, a further 1,000 properties in the area will be allowed to flood, including parts of the villages of Kilnsea and Sunk Island. In East Sussex, 260 acres of the picturesque valley of Cuckmere Estuary will also be lost over the next 15 years.

The new strategies have been drawn up by the Environment Agency, the government body with national responsibility for flooding, as it cannot afford to maintain all of the country’s 2,500 miles of coastal defences in the face of rising sea levels.

Instead, officials are drawing up detailed plans for the entire coast of England and Wales to decide where protection can be withdrawn.

The controversial move, however, has threatened to leave thousands of houses and acres of farmland vulnerable to flooding or even permanently underwater within the next 20 years without any form of compensation.

In some areas, the Environment Agency has said that it will repair and maintain defences only if landowners and residents cover the costs themselves. Home owners could also build their own defences, provided they meet planning and environmental rules.

John Bunn, managing director of Bunn Leisure, a holiday cottage and caravan park owner in the Medmerry area, said they had been forced to spend £1.5 million on flood defences that were completed this year and are planning another £10 million of work over the next two years.

“Our mile of seafront is as much a part of our infrastructure as the facilities we offer and I’m passionate about preserving both.

“Chronic underinvestment in sea defences for more than a decade has put us in the position of having to take matters on ourselves.

“We cannot leave the country to shrink – if the Dutch had taken the same approach Holland would now be half the size.”

In Kilnsea, residents have already taken matters into their own hands and are maintaining the defences themselves after the Environment Agency refused to defend their village.

They raised £200,000 through Environment Agency grants and charities to build a new embankment to keep the water from the Humber estuary from spilling into their village.

Nearly two thirds of the country’s coastline is currently defended with shingle banks, sea walls and barriers that are maintained by the Environment Agency using taxpayers’ money. Some land, such as that owned by the Crown Estate, has privately-maintained defences.

The risk of flooding is due to increase over the next century as sea levels rise by up to three feet. But the Environment Agency cannot afford to build new defences and increase the height of existing infrastructure in all of the areas it covers.

Ministers have instead decided to allow the agency to pick and chose the areas it will defend, with priority being given to towns and areas with special historical or natural interest.

The National Trust is also to abandon some of the 180 miles of coastline under its control after taking the decision that it could no longer afford to hold back rising seas and prevent erosion.

Visitors to Studland beach, in Dorset, which is among the worst affected areas, last week demanded urgent action to save the nature spot after beach huts have had to be moved back three times in the past 25 years due to erosion.

The Government currently spends around £600 million a year on protecting against flooding and coastal erosion and this will increase to more than £800 million over the next three years.

But Alison Baptise, national coastal policy manager at the Environment Agency, said that despite the funding increase, the Environment Agency still needed to prioritise where it spent the money by taking a strategic look at the nation’s coastline as a whole.

“There are clearly some areas that are more difficult than others,” she said. “As the coast is dynamic – it has been changing for years and continues to change – we can’t do the same thing at the same place all the time. We need to adapt how we manage it.

“In some areas there are defences built there that we could keep building up but it is not sustainable economically or good for the environment. These are long term changes and are not going to happen suddenly.”

The policy of abandoning defences and not raising defences in other areas has enraged campaigners, who claim house prices in effected areas have plummeted as residents struggle to sell their properties.

Malcolm Kerby, from campaign group National Voice of Coastal Communities, said: “People buy houses behind flood defences in good faith and then the Environment Agency can choose to move or abandon those defences at no cost to themselves.

“People living in areas that are being abandoned are seeing the value of their homes plummeting and they can’t sell them. Why would anyone want to buy a house in an area that will be regularly flooded in 20 years?”

Story by Richard Gray, Science Correspondent in the Telegraph