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. (more…)

Historic seawalls at Cromer need £6.2m worth of repair work in the next two years, and double that figure to keep them in good shape for another century.

The multi-million pound bill comes as the town’s pier is also in line for £1m worth of urgent repairs.

More than a century of battering from the sand and flint-loaded waves has weakened the 110-year-old late Victorian sea walls.

Like the pier, the walls are not unsafe, but if nothing is done the walls will begin to fail – putting the promenade, pier access, and ultimately cliff top properties including hotels at risk, said North Norfolk District Council’s head of coastal strategy Peter Frew. (more…)

Further to last summer’s Coastal Change Policy consultation that ran from 15th June to 25th September, DEFRA have today published a report summarising the 107 consultation responses received.  They have also today published Adapting to Coastal Change: Developing a Policy Framework which takes forward some of the ideas on supporting community adaptation to coastal change that they consulted on last summer.  Both documents are available online via http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/flooding/manage/coastalchange.htm.

Adapting to Coastal Change represents a staging post in the evolution of a policy framework on adapting to coastal change.  CLG’s new Planning Policy Statement 25 Supplement: Development and Coastal Change that was published on 9th March, and the work of the 15 coastal change pathfinders that were announced on 1st December last year, are both key parts of this evolving picture.  Lessons learned by the pathfinders will help inform future developments of this framework in the form of further guidance and/or policy.  Further details about the pathfinders are available on the DEFRA website via http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/flooding/manage/pathfinder/index.htm.

THE Government has ruled out providing help to tackle the problem of shifting sands at Tynemouth.

North Tyneside Council’s cabinet will be told tomorrow of the toll which winter winds and high tides have taken on the Blue Flag Longsands beach and dunes.

The erosion has left a sheer face to part of the dunes system which has led to the closure of some public access points.

The council has approached the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in an effort to secure funding to improve coastal protection for the Longsands.

But Defra has said there is a limited budget available nationally to tackle coastal erosion, and the Environment Agency prioritises funding on a national basis to address the highest risk areas.

“The sand loss you have described at Tynemouth would not meet the priority criteria for funding,” Defra told the council. (more…)

SEFTON’S changing coastline is to benefit from a £337,000 government boost.

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has pledged the money to help Sefton Council adapt to coastal erosion and dune movements at Formby.

The site was last year highlighted by a National Trust report which named it among the top 10 UK beaches which could be irrevocably changed by increasingly stormy weather.

With one of the largest dune systems in Britain, Sefton Council proposed building a new board walk system at the site to continue access to the sands. (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…)

15 coastal change pathfinder authorities who will explore new ways of adapting to coastal change have been announced on the Defra website. These include Scarborough Borough Council, East Riding District Council, North Norfolk District Council, Waveney District Council and Tendring District Council.

From a press release:

Support for coastal communities in adapting to coastal change was announced today when the government awarded £11 million in grants to fifteen local authorities who had come up with the best and most innovative ideas for dealing with and adapting to coastal change.

The winning local authorities come from all around the English coast, from Sefton in the North West, to East Sussex in the South East. Each has come up with their own “pathfinder” scheme to work with communities and find ways of dealing with a changing coastline.  Projects range from creating new sand dunes and building boardwalks to, where properties are at risk, developing of ‘buy to let’ schemes and the purchase of land to rebuild properties at risk. (more…)

Beverley and Holderness MP, Graham Stuart, has urged as many Holderness residents as possible to respond to a new Government consultation on coastal change policy.

The consultation looks at how coastal communities can successfully adapt to the impact of coastal change over the next few decades. One of the main issues the Government is keen to look at is the level of assistance afforded to homeowners who are affected by coastal erosion. For example, the consultation asks the following:

• Do you agree that it is appropriate for Government to make available public funds to local authorities to cover demolition costs for which private homeowners are currently liable?
• Is the homeowner assistance package set at the right level to strike the balance between individuals taking responsibility for their investment decisions, and ensuring that local authorities are able to provide practical assistance to homeowners who lose their home as a result of erosion? If not how could this be done?
• How should the payment mechanism for the demolition and moving assistance grant work? What evidence should be provided to Defra to support a claim for demolition and moving costs? (more…)

As sea levels threaten a number of historic properties, the government is considering ways to protect them.

Historic monuments that are threatened with destruction could be moved in exceptional circumstances to a “more sustainable location”, according to a consultation paper released by the Department for the Environment. Coastal defences should be improved in less severe cases and valuable assets recorded in case they are lost forever, it says.

Owners of homes which will be lost to the sea could receive grants to cover demolition and moving costs. (more…)

The government last night announced a raft of new ideas aimed at helping people who lose their homes to coastal erosion – but campaigners said that although the plans had merit, they still fell short of the full compensation package necessary.

Launching a three-month consultation into coastal change policy, Defra officials said they would create a new pot of £11m to help investigate how to address change. Local authorities could bid to become coastal change ‘pathfinders’ and access some of the money.

The Defra consultation will also discuss providing cash to meet certain costs of demolition and moving house for those faced with losing their homes to erosion.

But the suggested figures look to be limited to a maximum of £1,000 to cover removals and redirection of post and up to £5,000 to cover knocking down the threatened property. It would not extend to covering the value of homes, even if they had been previously defended and were now subject to damaged or removed sea defences, a key demand of coastal campaigners in recent years. (more…)