AN innovative scheme to save a vulnerable stretch of coastline from the ravages of the sea is now complete – and just in the nick of time if this latest photograph is anything to go by.

Work to protect the cliffs, Martello Tower and two homes in East Lane, Bawdsey, near Woodbridge, has finally finished following years of uncertainty.

Campaigners feared the coastline would be swept away and large areas of low lying farmland would be flooded if nothing was done.

But the defence scheme was low on a list of national priorities and the Government said it could not pay for any work.

As result the East Lane Trust (ELT) was formed and the group came up with a ground breaking community project to raise the vital funds. (more…)

From a press release on the Tendring District Council website:

A vital £1million plus scheme to strengthen crumbling sea walls at Holland-on-Sea has been given the green light.

Tendring District Council (TDC) put forward a programme of works for the York Road area.

The project has now received the necessary funding clearance from the Environment Agency following a meeting last month and the aim is to start on site in September.

Planning permission for the scheme is already in place. (more…)

Campaigners battling to save flood defences protecting land around a north Suffolk estuary are putting the finishing touches to plans which could see them repairing and rebuilding the walls themselves.

The Environment Agency announced in September 2007 that it could no longer justify large-scale investment to repair the defences around the Blyth Estuary, near Southwold, in the face of rising sea levels. (more…)