The UK is set to be amongst the best prepared nations for the implications of climate change following publication of a groundbreaking study into the threats the country faces.

The Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) highlights the top 100 challenges to the UK and our economy of a changing climate and provides the most compelling evidence yet of the need to increase our resilience. The research confirms the UK as a world-leader in understanding climate risk to ensure we can make robust plans to deal with these threats.

In order to provide a reliable baseline for decisions by Government, local authorities and businesses the research does not take into account any future policies or plans. However, a Government report published alongside the CCRA does highlight the many current and future policies already in place and gives details of plans which will address some of the risks identified.

The Government has also announced a National Adaptation Programme that will prepare the UK for the effects of climate change, including the risks set out in the CCRA. People are encouraged to give their views through a new website on the action needed to tackle the implications of climate change where they live and work.

Speaking at the launch of the CCRA, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said:

“This world class research provides the most comprehensive case yet on why we need to take action to adapt the UK and our economy to the impacts of climate change. It shows what life could be like if we stopped our preparations now, and the consequences such a decision would mean for our economic stability.

“The Climate Change Risk Assessment will be vital in helping us to understand what we need to do to stop these threats becoming a reality. In doing so there is also great potential for growth through UK firms developing innovative products and services tailored to meet the global climate challenges.”

Professor Sir Bob Watson, Chief Scientific Adviser at Defra, said:

“The CCRA is ground-breaking research which puts the UK at the forefront of understanding what the projected changes to our climate will really mean for us.

“For the first time it means we can compare a wide range of risks based on their financial, social and environmental implications. This will be invaluable for Government in prioritising the areas for future policies and investment, and it will help businesses assess what they need to do to ensure they are resilient to the changing climate.”

Lord John Krebs, Chair of the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change, said:

“Without an effective plan to prepare for the risks from climate change the country may sleepwalk into disaster. This report represents an important first step in the process and demonstrates why the UK needs to take action to adapt now. The work of my Committee has found that by taking steps to manage these risks, the UK can reduce the costs of climate change in the future.

“The Government’s forthcoming adaptation programme should tackle barriers to adaptation so that local communities, businesses and households can take action to prepare.”

Among the key risks the CCRA identifies, in the unlikely event the UK took no further action, are:

• Hotter summers present significant health risks. The CCRA projects that without measures to reduce the risk, there could be between 580-5,900 additional premature deaths per year by the 2050s. The Department for Health launched a Heatwave Plan in 2004 and update it annually to provide advice and support for people vulnerable to hotter weather.

• Increasing pressure on the UK’s water resources. The CCRA projects that without action to improve water resources, there could be major supply shortages by the 2050s in parts of the north, south and east of England with the greatest challenge in the Thames River basin. Defra published a Water White Paper last year which includes a package of measures to address water supply shortages, and to ensure the water industry is more resilient to future challenges.

• The risks of flooding are projected to increase significantly across the UK. New analysis for England and Wales show that if no further plans were made to adapt to changing flood risks, by the 2080s due the effects of climate change and population growth annual damages to buildings and property could reach between £2.1billion – £12billion, compared to current costs of £1.2billion. Defra has introduced a new method of allocating funding for flood defences so that more communities will benefit from flood protection, and the Department is working with the ABI to ensure that flood insurance remains widely available after the current agreement between Government and insurers expires in 2013. As part of these discussions, Defra is considering whether there are feasible, value for money ways of targeting funding support to those at highest flood risk and less able to pay.

• The number of days in an average year when temperatures rise above 26 degrees C is projected to rise from 18 days to between 27-121 days in London by the 2080s. This could mean greater demand for energy to cool buildings and more heat related illnesses.

• Increases in drought and some pest and diseases could reduce timber yields and quality. Projected drought conditions could mean a drop in timber yields of between 10% and 25% by the 2080s in the south east, driving up timber costs. Pests and diseases, which thrive in warmer conditions, may also pose an increasing threat, such as red band needle blight – which causes loss of foliage and can lead to tree death. Defra has published a Tree and Plant Health Action Plan and committed £7million to further research into plant diseases.

The CCRA also highlights opportunities for the UK that climate change could present, including:

• Opening of Arctic shipping routes. The melting of Arctic sea ice could lead to the opening up of new container shipping routes and improved trade links with Asia and the Pacific.

• Milder winters may result in a major reduction in cold-related deaths and illnesses. Currently, cold weather results in between 26,000 and 57,000 premature deaths each year in the UK. By the 2050s, a reduction in these figures of between 3,900 and 24,000 is projected to occur due to increasing average winter temperatures. This would particularly benefit vulnerable groups, including those with existing health problems.

• Opportunities to improve sustainable food production. Sugar beet yields are projected to increase by 20-70% and wheat yields by 40-140% by the 2050s due to longer growing seasons if water and nutrients remain available. A warmer climate presents opportunities to grow new crops such as soya, sunflowers, peaches, apricots and grapes, while new markets may open up overseas for British grown produce.

The CCRA evidence will be used to develop a National Adaptation Programme (NAP) that will set out timescales for the actions Government will take to meet the challenges of climate change.

The development of the NAP starts today and Caroline Spelman has called on the public to give their views on what the priorities areas for action should be. These views will help shape the final NAP, which will be published in 2013.

Mrs Spelman continued:

“Climate change is a global phenomenon, but its impacts will be felt at a local level and affect people differently depending on where they live. That is why I want people to give us their views to help develop a National Adaption Programme that puts us in the best shape possible to meet climate change head on.”

From a press release on the DEFRA website

The Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA), and the complementary Government report, can be viewed here.

The National Adaptation Programme website can be found at http://engage.defra.gov.uk/nap

LLANDUDNO is at ‘high risk’ of flooding in the next 50 years unless work is taken to strengthen sea defences, new research shows.

It is believed that sea level rises could hit parts of the town in the future unless flood defence works are implemented.

Last week, residents in Llandudno met to discuss plans as part of the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP). The multi agency backed scheme outlines measures to tackle the threat of sea level rise and assess the risks of sea erosion to the coastline.

Dyfed Rowlands, Conwy County Council’s environment manager said: “The flood risk doesn’t look too bad at the moment but in the future, certainly with the impact of climate change and sea levels rising we should be thinking what should be done for the future,” he said.

“Any storm could overwhelm our sea defences. We are fairly well defended at the moment, but we are going to have more storms in the future at shorter intervals which will cause flooding.”

Long term plans could include extending the rock defences on the West Shore. Other options could see sand dunes extended as a natural defence for flooding.

He added that sea level rise could also cause water to come from underground through the sewers, but he believes it was not likely to cause ‘extensive’ damage.

Cllr Jason Weyman said that Llandudno was marked as ‘very high risk’ in the plans.

“If nothing is done in Llandudno it could be hit in 50 to 100 years by sea levels rising one or two metres. It would not cope with a nominal one metre or potential two metre rise in sea levels over the next 100 years.” he said.

“The plan challenges the thoughts that just building sea walls higher and higher it not a sustainable future. Rather than sea views, residents will end of up with sea wall views.

“In the words of the consultant, if Llandudno was not so important in terms of economics and housing, then the decision would be just to let the sea reclaim it. We have a fair few years until this point but the plans do need some thought on how we deal with the threat.

But despite the consultation, Cllr Weyman added that he was disappointed by the low turnout.

Elsewhere, Llanfairfechan and Penmaenmawr were considered as part of the proposals.

Have your say on the Shoreline Management Plan at www.westofwalessmp.org.

Story by Rayyan Parry on the North Wales Weekly News website

Posted on Damian Carrington’s Environment Blog on the Guardian website

Thousands of holidaymakers heading to British beaches this summer will be cheered by a major government report into the state of the UK’s seas. Coastal waters are getting cleaner, fish stocks are improving and species diversity in estuaries is increasing, according to the most authoritative examination ever carried out of UK seas.

But while the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs study boasts of “significant improvements” since the last such report in 2005, it also paints a picture of an environment being rapidly affected by a warming world. Seas around the British Isles are higher, warmer and more acid, it says, and coastal litter levels are at a record high.

The sea surface temperature of UK waters has risen on average by between 0.5 and 1C since the 1870s, which could affect the fish that appear on our plates in future. Of the 330 species found around the UK, cold-water species such as cod are in retreat, while warm-water fish including red-mullet, seabass and John Dory are spreading rapidly.

Fish stocks are improving overall, partly due to fishing reductions brought about by European Union quotas, despite criticism from marine conservation groups that the quotas are set too high to maintain fish stocks. The proportion of fin-fish stocks in UK waters being harvested sustainably has risen from 10% in the early 1990s to 25% in 2007.

However, the report notes that a large majority of stocks are still being fished at unsustainable levels. Fish are simultaneously being hit by warming waters, which are causing the cold and warm water zooplankton that fish feed on to move north. The warm water zooplankton tend to be smaller and less nutritious, affecting fish larvae and stocks.

Climate change is also causing sea levels to rise, with the mean sea level rising by 1.4mm per year in the 20th century. While slower than global growth of 1.7mm per year in the same period, the rise has not always been steady – in the 1990s, it was going up by 3-4mm each year. More coastal erosion and more flooding are likely to occur as a result, says the report, with the Humber estuary and Norfolk coast particularly at risk.

UK waters are also not exempt from the global trend of ocean acidifiation due to higher levels of dissolved CO2. This leads to harmful effects for marine life that rely on calcification, such as crustacea and molluscs. But the authors of the report admit the lack of a baseline for pH levels makes it hard to measure the rate of our acidifying seas.

Levels of pollution continue to drop since Defra’s research in 2005, including heavy metals such as lead and mercury. However, there are still some localised problems such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) which, while stabilising nationally, are still found in places at levels that affect wildlife, including harbour porpoises. Litter levels doubled, though, between 1994 and 2007, with 2,000 items per kilometre of coastline. Litter was even found at a depth of 1,000 metres.

The picture for waterbirds and seabirds is mixed. Waterbird numbers are largely healthy, with the 2006/2007 population numbers 85% above levels in the 1970s. But seabirds have seen a 9% decrease in numbers since 2005, with herring gull numbers down over 50% since 1969. Seabirds are suffering particularly badly in north and north-west Scotland, due to the arrival of invasive species such as rat and mink, which affect nesting sites.

The evidence in the report was gathered from peer-reviewed science provided by universities, government agencies, NGOs and industry.

Marine environment minister Richard Benyon said: “The report’s findings show that we are moving in the right direction, but there is more work that needs to be done, especially to protect the UK’s seabirds. I am committed to improving our marine environment by delivering the conservation measures in the Marine and Coastal Access Act and hope to see further improvements in the next report as we gain the benefits from Marine Conservation Zones.” In January, Lundy Island off the north Devon coast became England’s first Marine Conservation Zone.

Story by Adam Vaughan in the Guardian

Visit the Charting Progress 2 website

Adapting to climate change needs to become as much of a priority as cutting emissions, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee argue in a report out today.  Climate projections show that Britain can expect wetter winters, drier summers and a higher likelihood of flash-floods, heat waves and droughts.  The report concludes that Government must do more to raise awareness of the need to prepare for a changing climate.

Tim Yeo, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee said:

“For a long time the climate change debate has focused on reducing carbon emissions, but adapting to the inevitable impacts of rising global temperatures is equally critical.

“Even if all the world’s power stations were switched off tomorrow past emissions mean that some climate change will still take place and we will face more floods, droughts and heat waves.

“We must act now to protect people, property and prosperity and safeguard the natural environment. Delay will only impose greater costs on future generations.

“The Government must be imaginative and establish new and sustainable sources of funding and support for adaptation.”

Adapting infrastructure and homes will be expensive.  More intense rainfall will make flash flooding more likely and the risk of coastal erosion will increase as climate change causes sea levels to rise. To maintain current levels of flood protection for homes, real terms spending on flood defences will need to increase from its current level of around £6oo million per annum to around £1 billion in 2035. Estimates in 2009 suggest that by the end of the century around £7 billion may be needed to improve the Thames flood barrier and tidal defences.

New homes being built now must be designed to cope with the inevitable changes in climate we will see over the next 50 – 80 years. The Government must make adaptation and mitigation more central to the planning system. New developments should only be permitted if they are suited to future climates.

Existing homes will also need to be adapted so that they are comfortable during hotter summers and better protected against the risk of flooding. The Government must help to kick start an integrated retro-fitting programme that covers adaptation, water efficiency and energy efficiency. Green infrastructure – such as water storage, greater tree cover and more open green spaces – must also be promoted.

Over the next twenty years 200 homes are likely to be made unsafe to live in due to coastal erosion and by then an additional 2,000 could be at risk. The Government must be clear on how it will help those worst affected by climate change – such as those who lose their homes from coastal erosion – as this will encourage others to address the risks they face.

The Committee is urging the Government to ensure that the country takes a coherent approach to adaptation – with all Whitehall departments addressing climate change risks and local communities helped to address the risks they face.

The Sixth report from the Environmental Audit Committee can be accessed on the parliament.uk website

En Grande-Bretagne, le réchauffement climatique se fait déjà sentir, notamment dans le Norfolk, région la plus exposée face à la mer, dans le nord-est de l’Angleterre.

Watch the video on TF1

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.”

Sea levels are predicted to rise by a minimum of 37cms by 2050.

Latest world predictions claim they will reach 1.4m by the end of the century if the present rate of warming continues.

The flat Norfolk coast would be swamped, the Broads would become seawater and Peterborough a coastal town.

But all that’s in the future. Happisburgh has already lost 26 homes in 17 years and several more are on the verge of tipping over the edge as long-term erosion of the soft-sediment coast speeds up.

But last night there was, finally, some hope as the the North Norfolk coast was awarded £5million by the Government to fight climate change erosion.

It will allow those about to lose their homes to the sea to receive compensation for the first time – and Malcolm was thrilled. He said: “It is quite simply the most important step ever taken in the management of our coastline.

“For the first time the coastal communities have a future.”

And North Norfolk Liberal democrat MP Norman Lamb, who has been closely involved in the campaign to get help said: “It’s a really massive breakthrough. It’s the first time ever the rights of people threatened by the sea have been acknowledged.

“It is a recognition that climate change is a threat. There will be many communities hit.”

Peter Frew from North Norfolk council said the money would be spent on 20 projects including demolishing homes teetering on cliffs and helping businesses. But despite the relief Malcolm warned: “We mustn’t be complacent. It’s only money until March 2011. We have still got problems.”

Happisburgh’s troubles began in the mid-90s when the sea defences built after the disastrous 1953 floods failed and were not replaced.

The cliff to the south of the village retreated a couple of hundred metres and a huge bay formed. Then in 2005 the village found it was official policy to “manage the coastline”.

That means defending towns, cities and strategic points but not spending millions defending smaller communities like the 850 in Happisburgh.

Coastal campaigners were furious that through all the talk of global climate change there was less action on those in the UK who faced losing everything with no statutory right to be protected from the sea. Malcolm says: “We had to make them understand this is not a Happisburgh problem. It is a national problem.”

Happisburgh formed the Coastal Concern Action Group and began fighting, recently creating the National Voice of Coastal Communities.

European-backed laws give more protection to sea cabbages and wildlife threatened by coastal erosion than people.

And it made Malcolm furious. He says: “I am sick to death of the Jesus creeper kaftan mob saying great crested newts, worms and things that fly have to come before human life and limb. If Flora and fauna is threatened Government has to find it a home. It could cost hundreds of millions to move a couple of newts or a sea cabbage. It beggars belief.”

The Environment Agency predicts it will spend £1billion a year by 2035 on coast and flood defences due to climate change.

A spokesman said: “We will defend communities where financially viable but you can’t build a wall round the whole UK.” Phil Dyke, National Trust Coast and Marine Advisor believes the sea could rise up to a metre over the next 100 years with more huge storms.

He added: “It may prove better in the long run for some communities to move and be supported by government.”

For Malcolm, though, the coast is something more. Some 16.9 million live in coastal areas with no one more than 75 miles from the sea. He says: “We are an island nation. It’s that coast and the people who live on it who have shaped us as a people.”

WILD CHANGES

The Met Office predicts the UK will start having hotter, drier summers along with warmer, wetter winters.

Central England has already increased by an average of 1C since the 70s.

And by the 2040s the record summer of 2003 will be the norm in Britain.

Here are some of the changes already happening…

• Nature The false widow, below, is the UK’s most venomous spider and has a painful bite. It’s spreading east from Devon and is likely to travel northwards. Plants, including daffodils and Hawthorn, are flowering several months earlier. New exotic wildlife, such as the Harlequin ladybird and olive trees, are also thriving.
• Health The 2003 heat wave caused 2,000 deaths and the NHS is expecting 5,000 extra cases of skin cancer by 2050. Warmer, wetter winters will see a rise in asthma but 20,000 fewer cold deaths.
• Travel By 2050 road and rail transport will be mostly carbon-free. The number of train users has doubled in 10 years, and is set to increase by half as much again over the next 30 years.

PERIL OF FLOODS

More than five million people in England and Wales live in properties at risk of flooding.

In Cumbria they are still mopping up after the worst deluge in the area for 1,000 years.

And November generally was the wettest on record with an average 8.5ins of rain across the country.

Get used to it, say climate change forecasters. We may not always get higher overall rain but localised storms causing flash floods will increase.

Mary Dhonau, of the National Flood Forum charity, said: “A monsoon type rain is now starting to hit the UK far more.

“The only way we can survive is to make our homes flood resilient.”

In 2007, 55,000 homes and 6,000 businesses were hit causing £3billion of damage. This led to 80,000 insurance claims.

Story by Mike Swain in the Mirror

Will the Kent coast always look like it does now? Unlikely. By 2100 is estimated that sea level changes wrought by climate change will have altered the map and we could find ourselves with a county that looks very different to the one we know and love today

Whether an act of humility or egotistical mania, King Canute’s tidal antics in the 11th century confirmed that the sea does what it wants. We’ve come a long way since, developing more sophisticated ways of thwarting the sea other than a pair of kingly ankles.

Around the county, coastal communities enjoy protection via a network of flood defences. They ensure that, even when the sea is at its bolshiest, those at risk from flooding (10 per cent of Kent’s population), can sleep safe in the knowledge that they won’t end up sharing more in common with Atlantis than Ashford.

But will this be the case forever? According to Ted Edwards of the South East Coastal Group, which works to encourage a strategic approach to the management of the region’s coastal zone, protecting the coast against the sea is set to become more challenging in the future.

“With climate change, we are going to have a rise in sea levels,” he warns. “The current government guidelines for sea level rise in Kent are that the rate is 4mm per year, but rising much more steeply towards the end of the century, when the rate is predicted to be 15mm per year. In broad terms, sea level rise could be 100mm in 20 years time, 400mm in 50 years time and one metre in 100 years time.”

In coastal terms, this could lead to a radical reshaping of the county. Low-lying areas such as Romney Marsh would be severely affected and end up looking very different to how they do today. This raises the inevitable question: will current sea defences be enough? “This depends entirely upon the levels of sea rises,” says Jan Leslie, press officer with the Environment Agency in Kent.

“If sea levels rise by the predicted one metre over the coming 100 years, then sea defences are still viable. If we experience an unexpected rise in sea levels, we woud have to re-evaluate.” The problem is that there are those within the scientific community who think that because the effects of climate change are unpredictable, so too could be any rise in sea levels and we could possibly see changes in excess of those currently envisioned.

Equally, the Environment Agency’s ability to protect the coast is not predictable, dependent as it is upon the existence of the economic will and ability of the government of the day to meet not just forecasted challenges, but any unforeseen ones, too.

It is not beyond reason to speculate that if sea levels rise higher than those currently predicted, and there are budget constraints as well, then the government might start to prioritise areas for defence. It’s unlikely that sparsely populated coastal communities will be top of any list.

The Environment Agency has completed a review of coastal defences in Kent. In Romney Marsh, where much of the land lies not far above sea level, the review caused concern.

“I think what shocked us most was that one of the options considered around the Lydd area was something called managed realignment,” says Brigitte Bass of Defend Our Coast (DOC), an organisation created to protect the interests of coastal communities in the Romney Marsh area on the issue of sea defences.

“That might sound innocuous, but in reality what it could mean for someone living directly on the coast is the potential loss of their home, because effectively the flood defences are abandoned and the line of defence against the sea moved further back.”

Managed realignment, sometimes referred to as managed retreat, is one of several ‘soft’ engineering options available to coastal planners.

In most cases, it involves breaching an existing coastal defence, such as a sea wall or an embankment, and allowing the land behind to be flooded by the incoming tide.

This land is then left to be colonised by saltmarsh vegetation, which disperses wave energy during storm events, reduces erosion rates and provides an important habitat for coastal flora and fauna.

The problem for the communities affected, as Brigitte explains, is that under this option they are effectively left to the mercy of the sea. “What we have found out during this process is that the government, under the 1949 Coastal Protection Act, has no obligation to people who like me chose to live by the sea,” she says.

“This extends to compensation. If they choose to abandon the existing defences and homes become at greater risk from flooding, then effectively that’s too bad. There is no compensation available and homeowners are instead advised to put their name down for social housing.”

She adds: “I think its disgraceful that someone could work their whole life to buy a home by the sea, basing their decision to live there on the existing defences, something that would have been mentioned in any local authority search, only to then lose that home because of a change in coastal defence policy and have to go back and start all over again.”

In the Environment Agency’s defence, managed realignment was only ever put forward as a possible option. Where communities are threatened by coastal flooding, both in Romney Marsh and the rest of Kent, the flood defences will be maintained for the time being and in some areas improved.

Chris Blunkell, chairman of the Faversham Road Residents Association, based in Seasalter near Whitstable, feels that in the future any communities that find themselves affected by changes to sea defences need to be organised.

“Our Association was formed in August 2007 in response to the draft Shoreline Management Plan for North Kent, which proposed managed realignment for our community in as little as 20 years,” he explains.

“In response to this, we lobbied our local politicians, including our MP. We got coverage on regional television, Radio 4 and in the local press and began to liaise with other community groups around the UK.

“I really think it was because of all this that we were listened to. We were united and organised and that gave our opinions weight. The result is that consideration of managed realignment has now been extended to a minimum of 50 years and in the meantime, our flood defences are being maintained.”

Some change to the county’s coastline is inevitable. Those low-lying areas currently unprotected and those in which communities are unaffected will probably be allowed to flood during the coming century. The Kent as we know it today is set to change.

What is less certain is how changes in sea levels will affect populated areas. They enjoy protection now, but in the longer term, who knows what effect climate change will have? Because of this Brigitte Bass believes the needs of coastal communities and householders must be taken into account.

“I know that not everywhere can be protected forever,” she says. “We are not unrealistic. But if at some point in the future people are vulnerable to losing their homes, then some degree of compensation needs to be available.

“There needs to be social justice built into the government’s coastal policy. Not only do coastal communities need to be part of the decision-making process, we also want some compassion.

“The sea might want to make people homeless, but that doesn’t mean we should necessarily give it what it wants.”

Facts and figures

• Sea level rise in southern England is about 6mm per year

• In the past 10 years, the sea level in Kent rose by 115mm

• 161,532 people in Kent’s population are at risk from coastal flooding

• In the 2003/04 financial year, more than £18m was invested in coastal defence locally

• The Kent coast is covered by two Shoreline Management Plans and eight coastal strategies.

Varieties of sea defence

Groynes

• structures in rock and timber situated to control beach movement and retain material

Breakwater

• rock or concrete armour structure designed to protect an area from wave action

Revetment

• a sloping surface of stone, concrete or other material to protect the shoreline against wave action

Beach replenishment

• the mechanical import of sediment to a beach

Beach Re-profile

• the mechanical movement of beach sediment from downdrift to updrift

Story in the August 2009 of Kent Life

More than 20,000 homes in North Somerset are at significant risk of flooding, according to a new report by the Environment Agency.

The report reveals that North Somerset is the second place at most risk of flooding in the whole of the South West with 20, 415 properties at risk.

The figures reveal one in three properties in the area could go under water as climate change increases coastal erosion and a rise in river levels.

A map published by the agency highlights areas such as Weston Bay, Uphill, Sand Bay, Brean Down and Kewstoke at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea without defences.

In the northern sector of the district, areas such as Clevedon, Kenn, Tickenham and Kingston Seymour are also under threat from flooding.

The district of Sedgemoor comes in seventh in the league table of top 10 places in the South West susceptible to flooding, with an estimated 8,092 properties at risk.

The report comes accompanied with a call from the agency for spending on flooding defences in the region to rise to £1billion by 2035.

Since 2002, £377m has been spent, including the £29m seafront defences in Weston which are due to be finished by the end of next year and will protect 4,500 properties from coastal flooding.

The Environment Agency has also spent £3m in Clevedon at Marshall’s Bank and the Land Yeo Outfall to install better sea defences along the sea wall to protect 3,000 homes.

And in the Sedgemoor area, £30m will be spent in the next five years to improve protection for 1,400 homes. The report follows on from the Pitt Review done after the devastating floods of 2007. The review highlighted areas at risk of flooding and the need for investment in defences.

Environment Agency chiefs have said the figures are a stark reminder of the risk to properties in the region.

South West Environment Agency regional director Richard Creswell said: “These projections remind us of the choices we face in ensuring a sustainable future for our fragile planet.

“A failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions will lead to a battle for survival for mankind and many other species across the globe by the end of this century; and we will feel the effects here in the UK too.

“The latest UK climate change data shows the risk of flooding and coastal erosion will continue to increase in future due to rising sea levels and more frequent and heavy storms, and there are important decisions for us all to take about how to manage these risks to protect people and businesses.”

North Somerset Council deputy leader, Councillor Elfan Ap Rees, backed the calls for more investment in flood defences across the district.

Mr Ap Rees said: “Any future government will have to make funds available to tackle the threat of flooding.”

Story on the This is Bristol website

I have an idea how the Government could start on the huge spending cuts that will be required after the next election: replace the environment department with a man carrying a sandwich board bearing the message “Prepare to meet thy doom”. He would do much the same job as Hilary Benn but at a fraction of the cost. Yesterday the UK Climate Impact Programme, a quango set up by his own department, published a report predicting the effects of global warming over the next century.

It warned, among other things, of increasing tempest and flood, speeding up coastal erosion. Mr Benn’s response? We’ll have to redouble our efforts to cut carbon emissions – but there won’t be a penny of extra cash for flood and sea defence. Moreover, there was not a hint of any change of policy over constructing thousands of new homes most at risk of river and coastal flooding, in places such as the Thames Gateway.

It was a response that encapsulates the Government’s attitude to climate change. It is quite happy to frighten us with grim prophecies of meteorological armageddon but when it comes to practical measures to cope with the predicted effects of climate change, it doesn’t want to know.

Whatever happens to temperatures in future there is an urgent need to bolster river and sea defences. As far as London and the South East are concerned, it isn’t so much that sea levels are rising as that the land is sinking. That is not going to be reversed by insulating a few more homes and driving electric cars.

That our wealthiest and most populous city is slowly sinking into the Thames Estuary has been known for decades, and yet still we are doing laughably little. In the Netherlands, sea defences are built to defend against the level of flood expected once in every 10,000 years. In Britain, if we build them at all they are constructed only to save us from a once-in-200-year flood. Some parts of the coast, such as Happisburgh in Norfolk, used to have sea defences but have had them removed altogether, the Government ruling against replacement on the ground of cost.

If Mr Benn was discharging his duties properly, he would break off from lecturing us about carbon emissions and start planning at once to replace the piddly little Thames Barrier at Woolwich with a proper barrage, from Southend to Sheerness, like the one the Dutch built across the Zuider Zee, complete with hydroelectric plant. I know it will be expensive, and may even require a few climate change co-ordinators to be made redundant. But compared with the cost of losing London, it will be peanuts.

Story by guest contributor Ross Clark in the Times