WEST Norfolk’s coastal communities can now access online maps to see how erosion could affect their coastline in the future.

The Environment Agency has published a series of coastal erosion maps for England on its website, www.environment-agency.gov.uk, including one for the stretch of coast between Terrington Marsh and Kelling Hard, near Sheringham.

The local map was developed in conjunction with West Norfolk Council and North Norfolk Council.

It provides information on how coastal erosion could affect where people live over the next 100 years.

The map also shows how the coast is being managed at present and what defences are in place.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: “Although few households are at risk from coastal erosion, its consequences can be serious.

“Better information will help coastal communities make informed decisions about development and about how to adapt to a changing coastline.”

Information for the Hunstanton cliffs map was developed by the agency, the borough council and the government.

It provides the latest erosion information to help local authorities, planners and developers plan investment on the coast.

The agency and the borough council are also developing The Wash East Coastal Management Strategy, looking at future management of the coast between Wolferton Creek and Hunstanton cliffs.

The strategy examines the dynamics of the cliffs, how they are eroding and how sediment from them interacts with other areas of the coastline.

West Norfolk Council deputy leader Brian Long, who also speaks for the authority’s cabinet member on environmental issues, said: “Hunstanton cliffs are an important geological feature and tourist attraction.

“This ongoing work will closely monitor erosion patterns and allow better decision making on their protection.”

Area coastal manager Mike Dugher said: “It is part of the Environment Agency’s role to help coastal communities make informed decisions about how to manage the coast.”

Story in the Lynn News

View the map on the Environment Agency website

SOUTH Tyneside’s ever-changing coastline is coming under scrutiny as never before.

Borough residents can now log on to the Environment Agency’s website to receive updates on coastal erosion.

Six local authorities, including South Tyneside, have worked closely with the agency to produce coastal erosion information similar to the flood maps which are already available online.

It brings together data from many different sources, based on the best scientific information available, and in an accessible and simple format.

The data will help the public and local authorities with planning and funding decisions for flood and coastal defence schemes.

Clare Steward, of the Environment Agency’s asset system management team. said: “The North East is not a region where there is an imminent risk to properties from coastal erosion. However it is still important that local authorities factor it into their plans for the future.

“Change along our coastline is a natural and ongoing process. Where the sea meets the cliffs and shores, it causes the sediment or rocks to be broken down and washed away. Erosion can happen under any conditions, but its rate tends to increase when waves are powerful and water levels are high – for instance during storms or high winds.”

Over the last two years there have been major examples of coastal erosion with large sections of cliff collapsing at Frenchman’s Bay and Marsden.

Meanwhile, the council currently has plans for a £5m coastal defence wall to protect South Shields’s seafront.

The existing 100-year-old Littlehaven wall is nearing the end of its lifespan as an effective defence against flooding.

Now the council wants to create a stepped sea wall leading down to the beach from a concrete promenade.

The scheme will be funded with £4m from the local authority budget – the Environment Agency (EA) is expected to meet the shortfall.

Meanwhile, work started earlier this year on £171,934 scheme to plant more than a quarter of a million clumps of marram and lyme grass on South Shields beach.

The grass will grow up to five feet high, and its roots will bind the sand and hold the dunes in place.

The project is also being undertaken with cash from the EA.

To view the latest coastal erosion maps for South Tyneside visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk/coast

Story in the Shields Gazette

Demolition work will start in Norfolk next week on nine houses before they fall into the sea.

The homes in Happisburgh were bought last year under a council scheme.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency has published online maps showing how people living on the coast could be affected by erosion in the future. Watch Olivia Paterson’s report

Story on the ITV News website

Story in the Hull Daily Mail

The demolition date of nine houses along the coast of Happisburgh has been announced today (Wednesday).

Contractors E.E. Green and Son Ltd will start tearing down the buildings on Beach Road in Happisburgh next Wednesday (April 11). The process is expected to take approximately twelve weeks

It comes after the completion of a lengthy process where North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) helped owners, who were under threat of losing their homes to the sea, to move.

And of the twelve homes identified as being under threat, nine were purchased by NNDC during 2011, under the government’s pioneering Coastal Pathfinder scheme – aimed at helping communities cope with erosion blight.

Campaigner Malcolm Kerby, of the Coastal Concern Action Group, said he was “delighted and over-joyed” at the progress made.

“I volunteered thousands of hours of my time and I’m pleased to see we’ve achieved some success,” he said.

“We’ve still got a long way to go with national policy though – which is diabolical.”

He added that those who had decided to sell had received 40 to 50pc of their properties’ market value out of NNDC’s £3m pot from the Pathfinder scheme.

The plan now is to create a public landscaped “buffer” on the cliff top and open areas will be sown with a wildflower mix.

On the opposite side of the road from the houses a new car park has been created and a new toilet block installed. Both the car park and the toilets, which will be managed by Happisburgh Parish Council and can be “rolled back” as the cliff-line continues to erode in years ahead.

The NNDC has also cut a new pedestrian ramp into the nearby cliff, providing direct access to the beach for residents and visitors making use of the new car park.

This is the last of the Pathfinder projects affecting this part of the village and NNDC will be revisiting the beach in the future to remove further debris as it appears and re-cut the beach access ramp as it, too, erodes.

Angie Fitch-Tillett, NNDC cabinet member for the coast, said: “A key part of the Pathfinder in Happisburgh is that it was developed and implemented with the local community; this is reflected in its legacy. With the parish council taking on the management of the new facilities, the new Happisburgh Heritage Group leading on the new village trail, the improved beach, the new ramp and now finally the demolitions and landscaping of the cliff top area, it is the start of a new era for Happisburgh.”

In addition to the houses, the NNDC is also arranging for the redundant RNLI and coastguard buildings to be demolished.

During demolition the area around the properties will be securely fenced off, with traffic moving to and from the site during working hours. The drivers will also be briefed on how to drive carefully in the village.

The three homes that remain in private ownership at the coastal end of Beach Road will not be affected by the demolition process.

Story by Donna-Louise Bishop in the Eastern Daily Press

RESIDENTS are delighted after a £19.5 million project to stop homes slipping into the sea at Lyme Regis was given the green light.

The Environment Agency has confirmed that it was supporting phase IV of West Dorset District Council coastal protection scheme at East Cliff.

The project will safeguard about 244 homes and 900 metres of Charmouth Road and Church Street which would have been destroyed by coastal erosion over the next 50 years.

It will involve the construction of about 390 metres of sea wall, and major slope stabilisation involving heavy piling, and deep drainage.

Town mayor Sally Holman said: “This is fantastic news for Lyme.

“All credit to head of engineering projects Nick Browning and his team at West Dorset District Council who have made the submission on time.

“This will have a great impact on our town, safeguarding homes and essential access.

“Well done to all involved and thanks to all who have attended numerous coastal forums and helped with liaison over the years.

“Lyme Regis Town Council are delighted with this success.”

Preliminary work is due to start in the autumn before the main work is carried out in 2013 and 2014 The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will provide grant aid to cover the coast protection elements of the scheme.

Dorset County Council and the district council will also contribute towards the cost.

Derek Hallett and Susanne Whitemore, who have lost 46 feet of their garden in recent years at their Church Cliff home, were overjoyed.

Retired Mr Hallett, 70, of the East Cliff Residents’ Association, said: “We are absolutely delighted.

“We live on the edge of a cliff and only have 24 feet of our garden left.

“District council staff have worked extremely hard to get this.

“Everybody in East Cliff Residents Association and Church Street are extremely pleased we have got it.”

The council received full financial approval of the proposed scheme by Environment Agency, with an approved cost of £19.5million.

District council leader Robert Gould said: “It is great news that we have now received financial approval for Phase 4 of the coastal protection works at Lyme Regis.”

Story by James Tourgout in the Lyme Regis News

Work on the £30 million Redcar coastal defences is on schedule as it reaches the halfway point, officials said.

The Environment Agency, in partnership with Redcar and Cleveland Council, is now starting to raise sections of the promenade behind the new defences.

The defences, which are being built at the Stray, are designed to protect against flooding as well as coastal erosion.

After Easter, construction work will start around the Stray paddling pool.

Work to build the new defences opposite Granville Terrace can now begin after planning permission has been granted.

The defences at Redcar, which started in January, are expected to be complete in Spring 2013 and aims to reduce the risk of flooding to 1,000 properties in Redcar.

The wall will stretch from Coatham to the eastern end of the Stray, and is intended to reduce coastal erosion and flood risk for the next 100 years.

Story on the BBC News website

A SUMMIT to discuss coastal erosion on Walney revealed there is funding to help solve the problem – but residents left the meeting with contrasting emotions.

Representatives from the Environment Agency told Friday’s 90-minute meeting in Barrow Town Hall the government had set aside £680,000 to tackle the problem.

But matched funding of £200,000 must be found in order for that money to be made available by Defra.

Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock called and chaired the meeting to bring together the various people involved with the issue.

After the meeting, he told the Evening Mail the matched funding would realistically have to come from Barrow Borough Council and the land owner of West Shore Park caravan site – one of the parts of Walney threatened with erosion.

The Labour MP said the meeting had been positive, but added: “I have severe reservations about the new funding arrangements being imposed on flood-risk areas like this.

“The fact that substantial amounts have to be raised shows how out of touch the government are with the funding pressures on communities.”

Mr Woodcock said another meeting should be convened inside six months.

Paul Brindle, West Shore Park owner, told the Evening Mail: “It’s been encouraging.”

Barry Threlfall, West Shore Park Community Association secretary, was pleased with how the meeting went, but stressed it was important for targets to be met to ensure continued progress.

He told the meeting: “Listening to everybody around the table, it seems as though something positive is coming out of this.

“We’ve been on with it for six or seven years and I know we’ve got to get over the funding issue, but at least it seems it’s coming from some direction.”

Other residents were less satisfied and felt assurances had only been given to West Shore Park.

Simon Mulgrew, of South End Farm, Walney, said: “I suppose the people from the north end might be pleased, but it’s not doing a single thing for us – nothing.

“Biggar Village is in the same position as us, there’s nothing coming forward.

“Hundreds of thousands must have been spent over the years on the strategy of the shore management, and yet there’s no sea defences whatsoever.”

Graham Parker, chairman of the Biggar Village Residents’ Association, said: “We’re not any further on than we were. We’ve seen the entire funding go in the direction of West Shore Park.

“The rest of Walney is also eroding, including an area called Middle Hills, which is opposite Biggar Village.

“There’s an urgency for a sea defence at Middle Hills of about 300/400 yards and nothing has been done about it, despite the fact we’ve got £680,000 off Defra – it’s all going to the caravan site.”

Story in the North West Evening Mail

In 2007 the draft Shoreline Management Plan for where I live proposed that the area might undergo ‘managed realignment’, with homes lost to the sea uncompensated in as little as 20 years. I was active in campaigning against this proposal, which was subsequently modifed. Since then I have developed a research interest in the social justice aspects of government policy with respect to climate change and coastal planning, to which this blog is devoted.

Read Chris Blunkell’s blog

PUBLIC exhibitions are being held in Sidlesham and Pagham to discuss the risks of flooding and erosion.

The Environment Agency (EA) is holding the exhibitions, in partnership with Arun District Council and Chichester District Council, to display the current risks which face the local coastline and surrounding areas.

The EA recognises local residents are concerned about recent increased rates of erosion in the area as well as the risk of flooding from within the harbour.

The exhibitions will show the community what the plans are for managing these risks into the future.

Officers from the EA, Arun District Council, Chichester District Council and Natural England will be available at the exhibitions so residents can ask any questions about flood and coastal erosion risks.

The exhibitions will be held on Monday and next Wednesday at St Ninians Church in Pagham, and also on Thursday, March 1 at Sidlesham Church Hall. The events will take place from 2pm-7pm each day.

Copies of an information booklet on the plans has been posted to residents who live directly on the beach or within the flood plain of the harbour.

The document can also be downloaded from the EA’s website and will be freely available to pick up at the exhibitions.

James Humphrys, Solent and South Downs area manager for the EA, said: “The changes we have seen around Pagham Harbour over the past ten years have been notable and difficult to predict.

“Following a great deal of study and analysis we now have detailed plans to manage the flood and erosion risks into the future that work with nature rather than against it.

“We appreciate that Pagham Harbour is a dynamic and fast-changing coastal area, so we have to be flexible with our approach.”

For more information visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk/paghamharbour or call 08708 506 506.

Story in the Chichester Observer