A government minister has been invited to Pagham to see why residents are concerned about the loss of their beach.

The invitation to fisheries minister Richard Benyon was sent this week by Bognor Regis and Littlehampton MP Nick Gibb.

It followed Mr Gibb’s chairing of a public meeting in which nearly 200 residents made clear their opposition to plans for a marine conservation zone around Pagham Harbour local nature reserve which they fear could halt coast protection methods. (more…)

The Environment Agency (EA) wants to hear residents’ views on major new plans to protect hundreds of homes between Emsworth and East Head in West Wittering from flooding.

The aim is to strengthen the coastline where needed at Thorney Island, Southbourne, Nutbourne, Chidham, Bosham, Fishbourne, Birdham and West Itchenor.

The EA is now looking in more detail at this generally low-lying area which includes substantial areas of farmland on reclaimed intertidal marshes. (more…)

An incredible £648,605 has been raised by the community to help pay for sea defence works in West Wittering – but now the work may not go ahead.

It has been predicted the existing sea wall in the village could crumble within ten years and leave 55 homes vulnerable to flooding if new defences aren’t built.

The Environment Agency (EA) advised the West Wittering Flood Action Group last November that if £600,000 could be raised within a month, it stood a good chance of getting funding from government.

But with government cuts and so many other projects now competing for money, the future protection of homes from flooding is still not secure. (more…)

Up to 1500 homes along the Ouse Valley could be abandoned to rising river and sea levels.

The Environment Agency has come up with a flood defence scheme – but it thinks it will be “very difficult” to convince government to find the millions needed.

The Agency is already maintaining shingle defences at Seaford – but more problems lie inland.

The banks of the river Ouse are crumbling and need to be built higher as water levels rise over time. (more…)

Plans to protect 1,500 homes on the East Sussex coast from flooding have been put out for consultation.

The Environment Agency wants to maintain defences along the River Ouse and coastline between Newhaven and Seaford as sea levels rise.

Spokesman Mark Douch said the possibility of restoring a floodplain near Newhaven had been investigated.

But he said that would cause extra water to flow through Newhaven, increasing erosion to river defences. (more…)

Seething residents watched as a strategy to abandon Climping’s coastline to the sea took a step closer to being finalised.

About a dozen angry villagers were present as Arun District Council’s cabinet agreed to back the Environment Agency’s shoreline plans for the next century.

This says nothing should be done to those at Climping – apart from an area covered by a legal agreement – once a two-year notice period has been served. (more…)

A large-scale £16m defence scheme designed to protect Selsey from the ravages of the sea was given the go-ahead by Chichester district councillors in a unanimous vote.

The ambitious Environment Agency (EA) project – the Medmerry managed realignment scheme – will also help create wildlife habitats being lost elsewhere in the Solent, the southern area development control committee was told.

The project aims to protect 348 properties from flooding over the next 100 years. (more…)

A legal challenge has been made to flood defence proposals for the Bognor Regis area. The judicial review will be heard at the High Court this month.

It has been launched by an unidentified individual against the Environment Agency’s draft plans to protect the coastline from the Pagham boundary to the River Arun against flooding.

The agency has proposed abandoning Climping two years after its final strategy is published because it says each £1 spent on the work would produce only 20p of benefits. (more…)

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…)