A COMMITMENT has been made to raise the £21million needed to protect Lyme’s eastern side from coastal erosion.

Phase 4 of West Dorset District Council’s coastal protection works in the town will protect roads, public utilities, businesses and homes from the more serious effects of erosion and associated ground movement.

If the work were not carried out 144 properties would be destroyed within 50 years and a further 342 properties would lose their access. (more…)

Future investment in flood defences will require greater contributions from communities and businesses, Environment Agency Chief Executive Dr Paul Leinster will say in a speech today.

Speaking at the Defra/Environment Agency Flood and Coastal Risk Management conference in Telford, Dr Leinster will say that local contributions to the funding of flood defences will have to play a greater role in reducing the risk of flood and coastal erosion. His comments echo calls made by Sir Michael Pitt in his independent review of the summer 2007 floods.

Environment Agency spending on flood and coastal risk management is currently at record levels (£629m for 2010-11). However, other sources of funding will need to be found to protect communities from increasing risk of flooding and coastal erosion including from changes in climate in future. (more…)

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…)

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…)

£17 million of European funding has been given to flood and coastal defence projects across Wales, Environment Minister Jane Davidson announced today (Wed 17th March).

The 12 schemes are the first in Wales to be given funding from a £30 million of European convergence support made available in December. It will be invested in measures to protect homes and businesses.

Areas that are to benefit include Tywyn, which receive £3.1 million, Borth £2.8 million, Rhyl £2.8 million and Duffryn Conwy £2.1 million. (more…)

A bid to secure European funding to protect homes and land around a north Suffolk estuary has attracted the support of decision-makers in the flood risk zone.

East of England MEP Geoffrey van Orden has been looking into the possibility of applying for European Union money to help repair flood defences around the Blyth estuary, near Southwold, and now local councils have agreed to help him bid for the cash. (more…)