A COASTAL community has vowed to continue its fight to have long-term sea defences installed on its shore after the Environment Agency refused to fund the project.

Bootle beach is currently categorised under the government’s Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) as “no active intervention”.

That would mean the beach and nearby Eskmeals gun range road would be allowed to wash away.

An emergency meeting was held with villagers, Copeland Borough Council, Cumbria County Council and the Environment Agency in a bid to get the government to change the policy and defend the beach. (more…)

Four Lancashire dairy farms covering 1035 acres could disappear under the sea if the Environment Agency gives the go ahead for a shoreline management plan along the coast of Morecambe Bay.

The scheme, which will affect 10 farms in total and destroy 17 properties and four large caravan parks, is part of a review of sea defences along a stretch of north-west coastline south of Lancaster. The current sea-wall embankment runs for about five miles.

One of the farms that would be lost is John and Brenda Lawson’s Bank End Farm at Cockerham, which stands virtually on the shoreline of Morecambe Bay. This highly productive dairy farm carries around 350 cows.

“It’s unbelievable that someone has come up with a plan that will mean our farms and the future of our families will disappear under the sea and none of us has received a letter or a phone call so that we could at least be represented at the [planning] meetings,” said Mrs Lawson. (more…)

Home owners who face losing their East Anglian properties to coastal erosion were offered the hope of receiving proper compensation last night.

The chairman of the Environment Agency has suggested that the government sets up a buy and lease scheme along the region’s coast.

Lord Smith said that authorities such as North Norfolk District Council should be given funding to purchase and then lease back up to 250 homes that are likely to fall into the sea in the next 20 years. (more…)

The chairman of the Environment Agency Lord Smith has unveiled a radical plan to help hundreds of homeowners threatened by coastal erosion.

The coastlines of Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire have been particularly vulnerable to the sea with many losing their homes without compensation.

Lord Smith has told BBC Look East local councils should buy up homes threatened by the sea and then lease them back. (more…)

Hundreds of homes on cliffs around Britain should be bought by the Government because climate change is accelerating the pace of coastal erosion, according to the head of the Environment Agency.

In an interview with The Times, Lord Smith of Finsbury said that some parts of the coastline were now impossible to defend and it was unfair that people should lose their homes through no fault of their own.

Local authorities should be given the funding to buy vulnerable houses at a rate based on their original value rather than the market value, he said. They would then lease them back to the owners until the property became uninhabitable. (more…)

The Environment Agency has posted its response to Defra’s Consultation on Coastal Change Policy on it’s website:

We welcome the Coastal Change consultation and believe that for decisions to be made about a sustainable future for the coast there must be meaningful practical support for those affected by coastal change.
We:

• support the proposals for a coastal erosion assistance package for individuals and the use of the coastal change fund for community adaptation pathfinders
• see this as a positive initiative which needs to give local authorities sufficient flexibility to apply within their communities
• would like a clear policy and financial framework beyond 2011 that includes better levels of support to individuals at the ‘front line’ of coastal change
• welcome the Community Adaptation Planning and Engagement guidance, and have already adopted its principles in joint Environment Agency / local authority engagement work on Shoreline Management Plans and erosion maps.

Read the full response on the Environment Agency website

“Coastal views – Shoreline Management Plans in sight”

That’s the headline from one section of the Aummer 2009 edition of Floodnews, a quarterly business briefing for professionals whose work is affected by flood and coastal erosion issues.

The second series of Shoreline Management Plans are now securing approval, and publication of the completed documents has begun.

Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) report on the natural evolution of the coast and the predicted impacts on the environment using three epochs: 20, 50 and 100 years into the future. They help set the long-term planning and investment for coastal defences.

To coincide with the release of SMPs, we are preparing complementing online information to show the areas of the English and Welsh coastline at risk of erosion. The information
will show the impact of erosion and agreed management policies for England and Wales. Our modelling uses the latest scientific data and the most recent UK Climate Projections 2009 (UKCP09). (more…)

A scheme to flood part of the north Norfolk coast at high tide to protect a popular harbour has been welcomed.

The Environment Agency’s shoreline management plan would involve breaching Blakeney Freshes to make sure Blakeney’s harbour does not totally silt up.

About 30 people visited a public display in Blakeney Harbour Room on Saturday to examine the draft plan to 2105 to breach part of Blakeney Freshes so water from high tides can wash away silt from the harbour. (more…)

“Communities are central to coastal management”

That’s the headline from one section of the summer 2009 edition of Floodnews, a quarterly business briefing for professionals whose work is affected by flood and coastal erosion issues.

‘People in coastal communities have homes and businesses that they cherish. Living by the sea is part of their identity; for many it has been a defining characteristic of their family life for generations.

‘Flood risk and erosion, and their increasing threats, are emotionally tough. It strikes at the heart of personal happiness, lives and futures. Our work to consult and communicate with these communities needs to be at its very best. We are here to give them and local authorities every support we can.’ (North West Flood and Coastal Risk Manager Pete Fox) (more…)

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. (more…)