For Malcolm Kerby climate change is no distant threat to the Third World. He lives where it is already ruining lives… in Britain.
His home is in the small village of Happisburgh on the North Norfolk coast where the shore is retreating, battered by increasingly ferocious rising seas.
“This is the front line of climate change in Britain,” he says. “We can’t deny it. It’s happening. We see it with our own eyes.” (more…)
A successful multi million pound bid to solve major coastal problems in Norfolk and Suffolk was hailed by experts and campaigners last night as the most important step ever taken in the management of the coast.
And as three local authorities – North Norfolk, Waveney and Great Yarmouth – celebrated winning nearly £5m out of a national pot of £11m to address a range of challenges, officials in charge of managing the coast said the money would help individuals about to lose their homes to erosion, the two counties as a whole and also build future policies for the rest of the country in the face of climate change.
A small number of people teetering on the very edges of some cliff tops, including in the now internationally known erosion hotspot of Happisburgh, were for the first time guaranteed payments for the loss of their homes where they had previously faced walking away with nothing. (more…)
A leading Norfolk coastal campaigner says the county’s cause has been helped through brief encounters with senior government and opposition ministers on successive days.
Today Malcolm Kerby had a fleeting meeting with Conservative shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert during the MP’s flying visit to Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex for a fact-finding tour about coastal defences.
And yesterday he had a 45-minute session with Defra environment minister Hugh Irranca-Davies in London, to discuss funding issues. (more…)
It is perhaps appropriate to recognise the extent and complexity of the possible problems facing the UK Government (irrespective of political persuasion) in managing the coast through what science is telling us may well be a significant and prolonged period of climate change. Of paramount importance will be our adopted Governance and how we manage our way through that period in the interests of all our people.
The coast is, of course, in the absolute front line of climate change where sea level rise and more unpredictable weather patterns could have a significant impact on communities within the coastal zone.
Read the full response to Defra’s Consultation on Coastal Change Policy by the Coastal Concern Action Group on the CCAG website.
From a press release from North Norfolk District Council:
North Norfolk District Council is answering the Government’s call for ‘pathfinder’ bids for a share of £11 million designated to help coastal communities adapt to coastal change.
NNDC has been at the forefront of lobbying and policy-making on coastal adaptation, through national working groups comprising national Government departments and agencies alongside local councils, and, as a result, the Government is developing a Coastal Change Policy for England — supported by the £11 million fund for innovative adaptation projects. (more…)
Coastal dwellers from across the country were among those who gathered in Happisburgh at the weekend to mark the 10th birthday of a leading lobby group and to thank the people of the Norfolk clifftop village for their years of support.
An evening meeting was held in St Mary’s church on Friday to formally celebrate the Coastal Concern Action Group’s decade of operation, followed by various events through the weekend. The actual date of the anniversary fell last month. (more…)
Coastal Concern Action Group, based in Happisburgh on the North Norfolk coast, held a meeting in their parish church on Friday attended by around 200 people, celebrating ten years of the founding of the group, and their achievements during that period.
After a welcome from Rev Philip Wood, Diana Wrightson, one of the members of the CCAG steering group, recapped the circumstances that led to a similar meeting held in St Mary’s Church ten years ago to discuss the issue of worsening coastal erosion of Happisburgh’s cliffs. Following that meeting CCAG was set up under the leadership of their Co-ordinator Malcolm Kerby.
Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk then explained the political impact that CCAG had brought about through its policy of constructive dialogue rather than direct confrontation, and the scope of the influence that the group now received. He also summarised the current position that although there was currently no sign of change of a policy on defending the coast, there had been changes in attitude to the possibility of ‘compensation’, and that the campaigning of CCAG had been a large factor in that change. (more…)
A campaign body which has attained international importance on the issues of climate change and coastal erosion, or a tiny community group representing the interests of a few hundred people in the Norfolk clifftop village of Happisburgh?
On the 10th birthday of the Coastal Concern Action Group, Ed Foss explains why it is both.
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The clifftop village of Happisburgh is not alone in its plight.
Yet it has become an international icon in the worldwide battle against the impact of a changing climate, its name being mentioned by media organisations, government institutions and academic bodies across the globe. Australia, America, Japan, South Korea, Holland, Germany, Canada and France are just some of the countries that name has reached.
Linked inextricably with the mention of Happisburgh is the Coastal Concern Action Group, a body born of local need in 1999 because it was recognised that the village’s problems with erosion needed focus. (more…)
CCAG was created ten years ago today. It grew out of the deep frustration and fear within the community.
Frustration because Government’s attitude and approach to the management of our coast seemed to be devoid of any common sense or understanding.
Fear because the prospects for individuals and the community were extremely worrying. Everyone felt they had no voice and were being abandoned out of hand. (more…)
A conference is being held at the John Innes Centre, Norwich on 16th May 2009 discussing climate change in East Anglia.
Organised jointly by WEA (Workers’ Educational Association) and the University of East Anglia (UEA), speakers will include:
To book a place, fill in and return the booking form – there is no charge for attendance; lunch can be provided for £10. People with lunch bookings get preferential entry if the event is booked out.
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