Seething residents watched as a strategy to abandon Climping’s coastline to the sea took a step closer to being finalised.

About a dozen angry villagers were present as Arun District Council’s cabinet agreed to back the Environment Agency’s shoreline plans for the next century.

This says nothing should be done to those at Climping – apart from an area covered by a legal agreement – once a two-year notice period has been served. (more…)

A legal challenge has been made to flood defence proposals for the Bognor Regis area. The judicial review will be heard at the High Court this month.

It has been launched by an unidentified individual against the Environment Agency’s draft plans to protect the coastline from the Pagham boundary to the River Arun against flooding.

The agency has proposed abandoning Climping two years after its final strategy is published because it says each £1 spent on the work would produce only 20p of benefits. (more…)

Thousands of properties between Aldwick and Climping should continue to be protected from flooding.

A new flood and erosion risk strategy from the Environment Agency recommends the current level of coast protection along the frontage should be maintained during the next century.

The cost of holding the shoreline against the sea along the five miles or so is put at £32.4m in the next 20 years.

Competition for funding is tough, but failure to keep the defences at their current strength will lead to 530 properties being put at risk from a one-in-200-year flood by 2029. (more…)