A coastal defence scheme which could see the shape of Suffolk’s shoreline altered dramatically over the next century is set to be adopted by district leaders.

Plans to manage the 45 mile stretch between Lowestoft Ness and Languard Point in Felixstowe had been subject to opposition from inhabitants of communities denied investment for long-term defence against erosion.

Though flood risk would continue to be managed in all of the county’s main coastal towns and principal villages, areas with no proposed measures in place to slow erosion could be lost to the North Sea by as early as 2055.

Suffolk Coastal’s cabinet will be asked to formally adopt the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) next Tuesday and implement a policy of “no active intervention” in smaller communities including Covehithe, a tiny hamlet just north of Southwold, where residents face the inevitable loss of homes, a 15th century church and conservation areas within the next 40 years unless sea defences can be funded independently.

The plan, prepared in association with Natural England by Suffolk Coastal, Waveney, British Energy and the Environment Agency, aims to reduce environmental risks to people and developed, historic and natural environments, but does not protect areas lacking significant conservation or landscape quality interest.

A blueprint was provisionally approved for adoption by Suffolk Coastal District Council (SCDC) in February 2010, and more recently by Waveney in November 2010, but needed to be proved environmentally sound to Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), which required evidence that no feasible alternative existed and that compensatory measures were secured.

Residents of Covehithe joined members of the Alde and Ore Association and SCAR (Suffolk Coast Against Retreat) in speaking out against the adoption and called for an alternative approach to defending Suffolk’s coast and tidal rivers.

Richard Steward, of the Blyth Estuary Group, meanwhile argued that any inland relocation would prove more costly to the Environment Agency’s coastal defence budget than preventatively protecting the whole of the coast from Southwold to Kessingland. He added that EU guidance declares abandonment and relocation “unlawful” unless for the overriding benefit of the public.

But Deputy Leader of Suffolk Coastal, Andy Smith said that, in the case of Covehithe, there was no viability for building expensive sea defences for such a small number of houses. However, he added that Waveney District Council was already looking into preferential planning solutions for residents. He added: “Defra and Natural England found no impediment and are content for us to adopt the plan.

“We will monitor and review the plan if circumstances make it necessary to do so.”

How Suffolk’s shores will be managed under the Shoreline Management Plan in the short (up to 2025), medium (2026-2055) and long (up to 2105) term:

Coastline defence protection will be maintained or upgraded throughout the next 100 years in Lowestoft. Pakefield will also be maintained or upgraded until 2105, when its coastline is set to be realigned. Kessingland village will also be maintained and upgraded Pakefield Cliffs will be abandoned, as will nearby Benacre Ness and Kessingland cliff.

The area between Benacre Broad and Easton Broad, in which lies Covehithe village, is not considered sustainable to attempt erosion management and will therefore be lost unless independently funded.

Southwold, and the area north of the town, will be subject to maintenance, upgrades and realignment, as will a stretch of the Blyth estuary between The Denes and Walberswick, excluding the upper estuary. Walberswick and Dunwich will also be protected or realigned.

Cliffs south of Dunwich, including Minsmere and Sizewell may be lost without long-term defence, but surrounding villages will continue to be protected.

It is hoped some properties between Thorpeness Haven and Aldeburgh will continue to be defended by the naturally-functioning shingle bank rather than man-made works which will be maintained or upgraded where required.

Since last February, more urgent works have been required in Thorpeness where a partnership between SCDC, local residents and the Environment Agency (EA) has enabled the repair and strengthening of damaged defences, reducing the immediate threat to homes from coastal erosion.

The emergency repairs began in October with 1,450 large geo-textile bags filled with sand and shingle being placed in front of the eroded cliff.

Sudbourne beach and Orford Ness will both be left to erode naturally, as will Orford beach, with realignment, maintenance and upgrades made going south as far as Bawdsey hill and cliffs which will be left. The coastline between Bawdsey Manor and Languard Point will continue to be managed and realigned where appropriate to maintain important flood defences.

Story by Tom Potter in the East Anglain Daily Times

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.

The DEFRA visit was organised by the Country Land and Business Association to highlight the plight of the farmers.

The CLA has called on the government to help ease regulations preventing more landowners from funding repairs to sea defences.

“Mr Benyon was given a range of examples to illustrate the scope for locally initiated projects such as the one which has already been successful carried out at Bawdsey,” said CLA eastern region director Nicola Currie.

“In the past, each generation has done what it can to defend our coastline. By putting into action the coalition government’s localism agenda, coastal defence policy can be changed to enable a new way of working.”

Local landowners at Bawdsey financed their own repairs by donating farmland to a specially formed trust which then sold it to developers for housing. The scheme was approved by Suffolk Coastal District Council.

Money raised funded vital repair work to help protect a large area of land, villages and farms, as well as a 200-year-old Martello Tower. The idea is seen as a blueprint that could be used to fund repairs in other areas.

Mrs Currie said: “The government needs to make it as easy as possible for locally led projects to play their part and we look forward to helping Mr Benyon develop the ideas and suggestions in more detail.”

Story by Johann Tasker in the Farmers Weekly

Campaigners fighting to protect a north Suffolk estuary are preparing to spend up to eight years repairing damaged river banks themselves now that plans for DIY flood defences have been given the green light.

The Environment Agency announced in 2007 that it could no longer justify large-scale investment to repair the defences around the Blyth Estuary, near Southwold, in the face of predicted rising sea levels.

It proposed a strategy of managed retreat, which would see the existing walls protecting land around Southwold, Walberswick, Reydon and Blythburgh, maintained for a maximum of 20 years, but with some sections allowed to breach much sooner.

Now the Blyth Estuary Group, which has been campaigning against the Environment Agency’s proposals, has been given the permission to take on the task and rebuild the mud walls themselves so that the flood defences will last for at least a few more decades.

The plans, which were approved by Suffolk Coastal and Waveney District Councils on Wednesday, involve an 8km stretch of river banks right around the estuary.

Sue Allen, chairman of the Blyth Estuary Group, said that allowing landowners and locals to repair and maintain the river banks will help to secure the estuary for future generations.

She said: “This is a truly unique application. It is an innovative and nationally important test case, and an excellent example of Suffolk’s communities working together.

“The Blyth Estuary Group is working towards the next 30 or 40 years. Each generation should be able to make its own decision about the future of the estuary and whether it is viable, which at the moment it is.”

The project, which could take between five and eight years to complete, will see all the river banks raised to 2.7m high to protect the surrounding area, including the A12 Lowestoft to Ipswich road, dozens of homes, Southwold harbour and acres of farmland and protected wildlife habitat.

An access track will be built across the marshes using waste soil from building sites so that clay from the marshes can then be used to bolster the defences.

The work will be carried out in four phases, starting with Tinkers and Delacroix Marshes near Walberswick and then moving round to Robinsons Marsh and Reydon Marshes to finish at the Southwold town marshes.

Story by Hayley Mace in the Eastern Daily Press

Campaigners battling to save flood defences protecting land around a north Suffolk estuary are putting the finishing touches to plans which could see them repairing and rebuilding the walls themselves.

The Environment Agency announced in September 2007 that it could no longer justify large-scale investment to repair the defences around the Blyth Estuary, near Southwold, in the face of rising sea levels.

It proposed a strategy of managed retreat, which would see the existing walls protecting land around Walberswick, Southwold, Reydon and Blythburgh, maintained for a maximum of 20 years but with some sections allowed to breach much sooner.

Now the Blyth Estuary Group, which has been campaigning against the proposals ever since they were first put forward, is hoping to take on the task and rebuild the mud walls themselves so that they will last for at least a few more decades.

The proposals, being submitted to Suffolk Coastal District Council through Walberswick Parish Council, involve building an access track across the marsh using waste soil from building sites so that clay from the marshes can then be put in place to bolster the defences.

Blyth Estuary group member Richard Steward, who has been drawing up the plans, said that the scheme would see about thirteen and a half thousand truck loads of soil put in place over the next six years. The finished walls would be about 12m wide and stretch about 8km right round the estuary.

Mr Steward said: “It has taken us three years to get to this point and to really understand the processes at work in the estuary. We will build the wall so that it is the same height as the salting on the other side, near the river.

“We believe we can defend and protect these walls and we will do this with waste soil. The charges we get for disposing of the soil will help to fund the work. We will then use the marsh clay to build up the walls again.”

He added: “Men with spades have dug and protected not only the Blyth Estuary, but also the Deben, the Alde and large parts of the Broads, for hundreds of years.

“This will happen. We will defend the estuary. Every generation has to stand up and get on with the job in hand, that’s all we can do.”

Sue Allen, chairman of the Blyth Estuary Group, said: “It is nice to see things finally moving forward. This shows good community working as the local councils have put money forward to help pay for the application.”

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “We have been working with the group very closely on this and giving them as much advice as we can. When the application is registered, we will then comment on it as we would consult on any other application.”

Story in the Advertiser24

GUIDELINES on how the government will try to tackle the problem of coastal erosion will be drawn up using knowledge from communities along the Norfolk and Suffolk coast, a minister said yesterday.

Huw Irranca-Davies, minister for the natural and marine environment, wildlife and rural affairs, visited the east coast yesterday to see local erosion problems first hand.

He was taken to Southwold, where he was shown the crumbling north dock wall at the harbour. In the past few months, large sections of concrete have fallen off the wall, which protects businesses and roads leading into Southwold from flooding.

Andy Smith, deputy leader of Suffolk Coastal District Council, told Mr Irranca-Davies that walls around Southwold harbour need to be protected as part of a wider flood defence programme. “If you cannot protect this, then you cannot protect the rest of the town. It is a chain and the problem is that certain links in the chain need mending, or else you’ll lose the whole thing,” he said.

Mr Irranca-Davies said that information gathered from visits to the coast will be used to draw up future government policies. He said: “By the summer we hope to be able to bring forward a range of options for how to deal with problems along the whole coastline.

“This is not a ‘one size fits all’ approach and we will need a lot more tools in our toolbox if we are going to work out these problems.”

He added: “There is tremendous passion among the people I have met. When you’re faced with the possibility of losing your house or your business then that is natural.

“It is vitally important to come out of Whitehall. I haven’t come out with solutions or to preach a message pretending that I have all the answers. I’m trying to see whether there is agreement around the challenges we face.”

Sue Allen, chairman of the Blyth Estuary Group, said: “It is always useful for somebody to come and see what we are actually up to.”

After spending some time in Southwold, he travelled down the coast to see the new flood defences in Felixstowe and to find out more about the partnership work which is under way at Bawdsey.

Story in the East Anglian Daily Times

AN MP has issued a renewed rallying call against plans to let miles of the Suffolk coast succumb to rising sea levels.

Not enough is known about the future effects of climate change to give up the fight to protect coastal communities, rallied John Gummer, MP for Suffolk Coastal and a former Environment Minister.

The MP told a packed meeting of Suffolk Coast Against Retreat (SCAR) that victories can be won in Suffolk, but only if the battle is not surrendered before it has even started.

“You do not say ‘it might be a disaster in 30 years time’,” he said. “If we did that some of us might have never got married!”

Speaking at coastal erosion group SCAR’s AGM on Saturday, he said now was the time for campaigners to turn up the heat on the Government to ensure they do not unnecessarily lose land to the sea.

“It is a question of managing in order to hold on, not in order to give up,” he said. “I do not think anyone has done as much work as me on climate change as I have over the years and even I do not know what will happen. I am a pessimist by nature and I think it is going to be worse than people have so far accepted.”

But he said if you have a hole in your roof you would maintain it as best you could and pray the water doesn’t come in, instead of giving up and letting your possessions get ruined.

“That is precisely what we should be doing,” he said. “We have to keep things going for as long as we can.”

He said the attitude of the Government in their managed retreat strategy was currently to look at 50 years ahead and 100 years ahead, which “puts the whole system out of kilter”.

He added: “We do what we can because that is the human condition. The bane of climate change is we do not know what will happen so lets get on with protecting it for the next 3-4 years.”

Mr Gummer also called on all SCAR’s members to flood the Boundary Committee and Secretary of State Hazel Blears with letters opposing options put forward for local government reorganisation in Suffolk.

He told the AGM, held at Orford town hall, how both options being looked at would hinder efforts to protect coastal communities, with the whole process draining funds which could have been used to shore up the coastline.

“Lets give the Secretary of State the best possible evidence that the local feeing is enough is enough. If it is not broke don’t fix it, so lets get on with this,” he said.

Sue Allen, chairman of the Blyth Estuary Group and vice chair of SCAR, told the meeting: “They (the Government) call it managed retreat. We call it total abandonment over 20 years.”

Story by Russell Claydon in the East Anglian Dialy Times

An emergency meeting has been called after part of a wall protecting land and homes around an historic harbour breached.

A section of the wall at Southwold harbour – thought to be about 6ft wide – gave way earlier this week and it is feared that the rest of the structure could now be under threat unless immediate action is taken to repair it.

A team of divers will take to the water on Monday to survey the damage while councillors hold an emergency meeting to discuss what can be done to protect the future of the structure.

The crumbling wall, near the mouth of the Blyth estuary, protects a caravan park, marshes and roads leading into Southwold from flooding.

Sue Allen, chairman of the Blyth Estuary Group, said yesterday: “Once one bit of the wall starts to go, the whole thing becomes rather precarious.

“The divers will be going down to get a better look at it, and then we’ll need to go from there once we know how bad it is. We’re just hoping that something can be done.”

Suffolk Coastal MP John Gummer will hold an urgent meeting with Waveney District Council chief executive Stephen Baker on Monday.

Mr Gummer said: “The harbour wall is absolutely vital to the integrity of Southwold harbour. It is so important for the community and the local economy that it is rebuilt.

“The harbour has been in use for hundreds of years and every generation has played its part in keeping it up and running. We can’t ignore our duty to our children and allow it to fall into disrepair. The onus is now on Waveney District Council to support the local groups who are acting to beef up the defences along the Blyth.”

In October last year, Waveney District Council handed the management of the harbour over to Southwold Town Council and it was estimated at the time that the cost of repairing the already-damaged wall could be as much as £5m.

David Gallagher, Waveney’s head of services, said that a diver has already checked the damage and confirmed that the harbour is still safe to use.

He said that Monday’s dive will provide further information so that a structural engineer’s report can be drawn up. “It will be a full survey to look at the options available to us. We are looking to complete this report as soon as we can,” he said.

Story in the East Anglian Daily Times

A SENIOR figure at a leading worldwide engineering organisation has told how it is “futile” to protect parts of the Suffolk coastline from the sea.

Dr Colin Brown said that he agreed with the Environment Agency’s (EA) policy to stop maintaining flood walls around Blythburgh, Southwold, Reydon and Walberswick.

Dr Brown, engineering director at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), which has released a report warning that Britain should prepare for massive loss of landmass, said: “My personal reaction as a professional engineer is that as we move forward the sea level is rising and, like King Canute, if we think that we can keep holding it back with higher and higher walls then that is mistaken.

“Yes in the short term we can protect a few acres of land but in the long-term we cannot keep it up. Why not admit it and go with it and move on?

“Certainly in that area (Southwold) you do get flooding and we cannot as human beings stop the sea coming in on the land at some time or another. It is futile because whatever efforts we do will be overwhelmed.

“I have sympathy for people living in those areas but the reality is that at some point we will need to abandon it. The question is not if but when.”

The EA was given approval last month to submit a draft strategy to stop maintaining the flood walls around Blythburgh, Southwold, Reydon and Walberswick.

The agency argues that it would cost £35million to do the maintenance and it is unable to find the funding. However the Blyth Estuary Group says there is a viable alternative costing £2m.

Richard Steward, a member of the Blyth Estuary Group, said there was no evidence yet of accelerated sea rises.

“We are only talking about how to hand this onto the next generation in the next 50 to 100 years,” said Mr Steward. “Dr Brown does not know what sea level rise is going to be, nobody does. There are lots of guesses and predictions. But there is no evidence of any significant acceleration in sea level rise over the last 400 years.

“We should protect the coast for as long as we can and only let it go when we have the evidence that we cannot maintain it at an affordable price and we have not reached that point yet. It is unfortunate that people like this wish to abandon things before there is clear evidence.”

The report by the IMechE said that sea levels are predicted to rise by 2 metres by 2250 and 7metres by the end of that century.

It warned that Sizewell nuclear power station would need “considerable investment” to protect it against rising sea levels – or even abandonment/relocation in the long term.

Story in the Ipswich Evening Star

Campaigners battling to save flood defences protecting land around a north Suffolk estuary were dealt a fresh blow yesterday as proposals to stop maintaining the mud banks were given the green light.

The Environment Agency announced in September 2007 that it could no longer justify large-scale investment to repair the defences around the Blyth Estuary, near Southwold, in the face of rising sea levels.

It proposed a strategy of managed retreat, which would see the existing walls – protecting land around Walberswick, Southwold, Reydon and Blythburgh – maintained for a maximum of 20 years but with some sections allowed to breach much sooner.

Yesterday, the Environment Agency’s (EA) Eastern Regional Flood Defence Committee agreed to send the final draft of the Blyth strategy to the agency’s National Review Group, which will complete the internal review process before any scheme is finally approved.

The Blyth Estuary Group, who have been campaigning against the proposals ever since they were first put forward, had hoped that a new independent report which contradicts the science used by the EA to draw up the Blyth strategy would help their cause.

The study, which has just been completed, showed that sediment was building up within the estuary at a rate likely to outpace sea level rise, making it would be possible to maintain the mud banks.

Committee member John Goodwin warned at yesterday’s meeting in Ipswich that there was an “unseemly haste” in moving the draft strategy on to the next stage when the sedimentation study was still being assessed.

Tony Coe, Regional Flood Defence Committee chairman, said at the meeting that it was imperative that the strategy be passed on to the National Review Group (NRG). He said: “If we do not, then it may be perceived that there is some split in the views of the Environment Agency and the bodies working together.

“The longer we leave sending it to the NRG then the longer we leave the estuary at a greater risk of serious deterioration. If we have the misfortune to have an inappropriate surge we could suffer serious damage in the short term.”

Andrew Blois, landowner and Blyth Estuary Group member, said: “It is very disappointing in light of the sediment report that they didn’t put this decision off to another meeting. But we’re not giving up yet.”

Richard Steward, Blyth Estuary Group member, said: “We are very disappointed that they are passing this through to the NRG, a strategy which has been shown to be scientifically baseless. We think this will be rubber stamped and lead to the eventual abandonment of the Blyth Estuary.”

Guy McGregor, county councillor and chairman of the Blyth Strategy Group, said: “I’m obviously disappointed, but we’re going to keep on fighting. These defences have been protecting the land for 300 years and there is still work going on, particularly work at Southwold harbour, which has not been taken into account.”

Story by Haley Mace in the Eastern Daily Press

FLOOD defence campaigners trying to protect thousands of acres of land in north Suffolk have vowed to carry on fighting this year for permission to repair damaged banks.

The Blyth Estuary Group has been battling since early 2006 to repair flood walls in the estuary, near Southwold, after the Environment Agency announced that it plans to stop maintaining them over the next 20 years because the project is not be financially viable.

As the group enters another year of campaigning against the proposals of managed retreat, it is hoped that planning permission will be granted in 2009 to allow for the breaches in the mud walls to be repaired.

Landowner and group member Andrew Blois said: “We are currently trying to plough through the relevant planning issues, which is quite a difficult and expensive undertaking.

“However the scheme is progressing – we need to get the final bits of paper work in place and then hopefully we will be able to implement our defence scheme on an estuary wide basis and we’ll be free to protect the estuary properly for the future.”

The flood protect thousands of acres of land and about 20 homes in Blythburgh, Southwold, Walberswick and Reydon from flooding, as well as the A12 Ipswich to Lowestoft road.

Although the mud defences were originally built about 300 years ago, the task of managing the estuary has since become the duty of the Environment Agency.

Now the campaigners must apply for planning permission from Waveney District Council before they can take heavy machinery on to the marshes to rebuild the walls.

Mr Blois, who owns hundreds of acres of grazing marsh and farmland in Walberswick, said: “It is a shame things take so long, but that is the process we are having to go through.

“The routes on to the marshes are all farm tracks, which we want permission to resurface temporarily so we can use them for lorry access while the work is going on. After that they will all go back to agricultural use.

“The cost of getting the work done is not a big problem – we have got the money and a lot of people willing to help out. Hopefully we will soon be able to move things forward.”

He said that hundreds of sandbags have already been donated to allow work to plug a breach in the bank of the River Blyth in Blythburgh to be carried out within the next couple of months.

Story in the East Anglian Daily Times