A year ago the EDP revealed conservation bosses were considering a radical plan to surrender a large area of the Broads to the sea, prompting a public outcry and a vociferous campaign. Now Natural England has dropped the controversial proposals from its final report. JON WELCH examines the issues.

At least six villages wiped off the map, hundreds of people turned out of their homes, and thousands of acres of farmland and some of Norfolk’s top wildlife sites lost to the sea.

This devastating scenario came not from the pages of a lurid novel, but a report by the government’s own conservation advisers, Natural England. (more…)

Homeowners threatened with losing their properties to coastal erosion have been given a “groundbreaking” ray of hope of compensation.

A government minister has signalled to Norfolk campaigners that payouts could be on the cards to individuals whose seaside homes are lost through failing and abandoned defences.

The breakthrough has been welcomed by those on the front-line who have been battling for preferably better defences or, if not, social justice for those facing seeing their homes tumbling with the crumbling cliffs. (more…)

It has been extremely interesting watching the televised ‘grilling’ of Bankers by the Treasury Select Committee over recent days.

What occurs to me is the stark parallels which can be drawn from the way the Banks were (mis)managed and the way we (mis)manage the coast.

It seems to me the demise of the Banks (which has led to financial chaos) is due largely to suspect ‘Risk Management’ techniques and the marked absence of good old fashioned sound banking principles and practice. The result is financial chaos on an unprecedented scale.

Read the full article by Malcolm Kerby on the Coastal Concern Action Group website

Teetering on the edge, these precariously-placed houses on the cliff top at Happisburgh have become some of the most recognisable symbols of coastal erosion in the UK.

These new aerial photographs of the village’s coastline, taken on Wednesday, highlight the latest changes taking place at one of Norfolk’s most vulnerable spots.

While the carefully balanced homes and dilapidated remnants of the revetments and groynes – the area’s original sea defences built in 1959 – are familiar sights, a number of new landmarks illustrate the ongoing battle with the sea. (more…)

I note with interest the press release from Natural England (NE) covering their decision to appeal the recent High Court judgement re Peter Boggis and the Easton Bavents cliffs.

Sean Thomas (Regional Director NE) says the judgement “threatens to stifle the ways in which advice and expert opinion can be used to inform planning and development decisions”

That, I would respectfully contend, is absolute rubbish. What it may do is force NE to take a more open, honest democratic approach which must surely be in the public interest.

Read the full article by Malcolm Kerby on the Cosatal Concern Action Group website.

Surely we (the taxpayers) have a right to expect a constructive lead from our Government on issues as important to the well being of our island nation as coast management? What we are getting is a whole series of ‘measures’, ‘plans’, ‘strategies’ and ‘policies’ emanating from the centre which are unworkable, unacceptable and seem to increasingly prove how little comprehension exists within central Government and its Quangos of how the coast and its communities function, or what is needed to maintain their functionality through global warming, climate change and sea level rise.

Read the full article by Malcolm Kerby on the Coastal Concern Action Group website.

There surely can be few other areas of Government which provide poorer value for money than DEFRA’s Flood and Coast Protection (F&CP) department.

F&CP now has it’s own “Bermuda Triangle” the three sides of which are DEFRA, Environment Agency (EA) and Natural England (NE).

Dubbed Bermuda Triangle because if one lives on the coast and happens to be caught between those three (one department and two quangos) it is quite likely that one will disappear into the administrative, process led and target orientated black hole which they seem to create.

The only thing which seems to disappear faster than any individual caught in it is taxpayers money.

Read the rest of Malcom Kerby’s comments on the Coastal Concern Action Group website

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.

Read the full report >

Also on the CoastNet website >

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…)