On the Coastal Concern Action Group website comes a report of a busy week, with meetings of a North Norfolk contingent at the Environment Agency, a DEFRA workshop in Reading discussing adaptation measures, and finally a fact finding trip to Holland organised by CoastNet on behalf of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coastal and Marine Issues.
She thought she had stumbled upon a piece of fascinating flotsam to use in a sculpture.
But when artist Belinda Opie had a chance meeting in her local with a fossil expert, she found out there was more to this humble-looking bit of beach debris than met the eye. For it is actually a 500,000-year-old mammoth tooth.
And its sudden reappearance near the cliffs at Happisburgh after half a million years has raised fears that creeping coastal erosion is washing many of the UK’s pre-historic fossils into the sea. (more…)
Thousands of homes along England’s coastline are under threat of destruction because of rising sea levels and poorly maintained defences.
Campaigners in Happisburgh, Norfolk - one of the villages at most immediate risk - are now demanding more help for their community.
When Di Wrightson bought her Happisburgh guest house in 1981 with business partner Jill Morris it seemed an idyllic place to live.
Visitors came from far and wide to enjoy the sea views and cream teas served in her garden.
But today Ms Wrightson’s home lies just metres from the cliff edge and will soon be lost all together. (more…)
A GOVERNMENT minister has reassured villagers living on the coast they will not lose their homes, even though a government body has put forward a plan to allow the sea inland.
Instead, Floods Minister Phil Woolas said the government had called on the Environment Agency to provide a report on how the coastline can be protected from erosion over the next 100 years.
He also pledged £100m of government funding would be spent on bolstering defences over the next 50 years during a visit to some of the threatened villages where he met parish councillors and residents faced with the prospect of losing their homes under a Natural England option. (more…)
Norfolk is to stand firm against the ravages of the ever-encroaching North Sea for at least another half century after the government confirmed £100m will be spent on sea defences over the next 50 years.
People living in vulnerable coastal and low-lying areas of Norfolk breathed a sigh of relief yesterday after environment minister Phil Woolas gave reassurances their homes would not be left to flood.
Responding to worries over a Natural England draft report, which includes the option of allowing a 25sqm area of Norfolk to flood, Mr Woolas said the proposal was “not an option,” and stressed it was the government who drew up sea defence policy not Natural England.
As he visited the county to see the effect of coastal erosion and listen to local concerns Mr Woolas said the government was committed to keeping the sea at bay for at least the next 50 years and pledged £100m of investment in sea defences over that period. (more…)
A campaigner who has been told her house is worth less than a loaf of bread will today try to show the man in charge of the nation’s sea defences the true human cost of the government’s coastal policies.
The bungalow Jane Archer and her partner bought as a happy family home 21 years ago is still 60m from the clifftop, but is now worth just £1.
Today when environment minister Phil Woolas makes a fact-finding visit to north Norfolk over erosion and flooding issues she will be among the people keen to show him the impact of the government policy of abandoning sea defences without any compensation.
“I will tell him he is destroying our lives,” said 49-year-old Ms Archer. “Lots of money is spent by the authorities compensating and finding new habitats for rare birds whose homes are threatened by climate and coastal management changes - but what about people? Are they just going to let my house fall over the edge of a cliff, and leave us with nothing?” (more…)
People who faced losing their homes through the effects of climate change should be compensated, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said yesterday.
He met a handful of people at Happisburgh whose homes have been blighted by sea erosion, then addressed hundreds more at Hickling about the idea to surrender 25 square miles of the broads area to the sea.
Mr Clegg hit out at Natural England, which wrote the report suggesting at least six villages could be sacrificed to the sea as continuing to defend them was too difficult and costly. He said it was an insensitive, cavalier approach to the issue. (more…)
A report by a government body has proposed, as one of four policy options, the prospect of 25 square miles of Norfolk surrendered to the sea. Houses would be destroyed as well as local shops, pubs, village and landscape. Under present legislation there would be no compensation.
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Malcolm Kerby, the coordinator of the Coastal Concern Action Group which is trying to save the North Norfolk village of Happisburgh from collapsing into the sea gives his view…
Read the full article on the BBC website and see the transmitted programme featuring Malcolm Kerby, Richard Howett MEP, Steve Hayman and John Gummer MP.
It is extremely regrettable and highly possible that global warming, sea level rise and climate change will have little ‘work’ to do in terms of wrecking our coast as we know it and the lives of all who live and work in the coastal zone as we progress through this century. Our Government will already have done that long before we/they know or understand what the real extent the effects of climate change may be.
By assuming the worst and throwing away communities and land around our coast now we are not managing the problem we are abdicating our responsibilities to future generations and binding them into costs they may never have been forced to bear had we been more pragmatic in our approach today.
Read the full article by Malcolm Kerby on the CCAG website
All 3 meetings were chaired by Malcolm Kerby of Coastal Concern Action Group in conjunction with Norman Lamb MP and were organised to give villagers the chance to voice their concerns following recent newspaper reports on Natural England plans to “abandon sea defences” in this area.
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These are the main, recurring points from the meetings, and the attendance at the meetings show the strength of feeling of the local communities.
The vast majority agree that the coast must be defended, social justice must be included in any plan & the local communities will fight for their rights in accordance with the Human Rights Act if necessary.
They will petition the Government for assurances that this area will be defended.
Download CCAG notes from public meetings, April 2008 (PDF)
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