Coastal protection in the region may fall victim to deep public spending cuts, leaving people to repair their own defences, a former MP has warned.

John Gummer said that people with land and homes by the sea may need to “make do and mend” because multi-million-pound “Rolls Royce answers” would be put on the back-burner.

Mr Gummer, former MP for Suffolk Coastal and president of Suffolk Coast Against Retreat (Scar), said new local initiatives and alternative strategies such as tyre walls and using willow may have to be considered.

Along the Suffolk coast, sea defences at towns and villages are due to be maintained as part of the draft Shoreline Management Plan. But some areas – such as Covehithe, south of Lowestoft – could be surrendered to the sea and people there are already looking at building their own defences.

Edward Vere Nicoll, manager of the The Benacre Estate, which includes most of Covehithe, said they were losing 16 acres a year over the 3.5 miles of coast.

The estate wants to put in adaptive defence and safety measures including chestnut pale fences, marram grass, and protection, including sediment roped together and lined beneath the beach.

Mr Vere Nicoll said they needed permission from Suffolk Coastal and Waveney district councils, the Environment Agency and Natural England.

“To be able to do it, we have to fulfil certain criteria and that’s why we’ve come up with something like this; there will still be sediment shift, birds can still nest on it and the coast will still erode, but at a reduced rate,” he said.

“We just want to stop the massive land loss during storms.”

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Alde and Ore Association, Mr Gummer, who has now taken on a new role as an environment and climate change consultant, said organisations such as Natural England and the RSPB would need to compromise to allow coastal defence and renewal energy schemes to proceed, as well as saving wildlife and habitat.

“We have a system which says where we will be in 100 years’ time and then look at building something we expect to last 50 years, which is ludicrous – and we have a budget for three years, which is manifest nonsense,” he said.

“We don’t know what is going to happen in 100 years. Twenty years is far enough away – the longest period in which you could make a reasonable assumption.

“I think we are going to have a period where make do and mend will be very important – the Environment Agency’s Rolls Royce answers to things are not going to happen.”

Story by Amy Gray in the Eastern Daily Press

AN MP has issued a renewed rallying call against plans to let miles of the Suffolk coast succumb to rising sea levels.

Not enough is known about the future effects of climate change to give up the fight to protect coastal communities, rallied John Gummer, MP for Suffolk Coastal and a former Environment Minister.

The MP told a packed meeting of Suffolk Coast Against Retreat (SCAR) that victories can be won in Suffolk, but only if the battle is not surrendered before it has even started.

“You do not say ‘it might be a disaster in 30 years time’,” he said. “If we did that some of us might have never got married!”

Speaking at coastal erosion group SCAR’s AGM on Saturday, he said now was the time for campaigners to turn up the heat on the Government to ensure they do not unnecessarily lose land to the sea.

“It is a question of managing in order to hold on, not in order to give up,” he said. “I do not think anyone has done as much work as me on climate change as I have over the years and even I do not know what will happen. I am a pessimist by nature and I think it is going to be worse than people have so far accepted.”

But he said if you have a hole in your roof you would maintain it as best you could and pray the water doesn’t come in, instead of giving up and letting your possessions get ruined.

“That is precisely what we should be doing,” he said. “We have to keep things going for as long as we can.”

He said the attitude of the Government in their managed retreat strategy was currently to look at 50 years ahead and 100 years ahead, which “puts the whole system out of kilter”.

He added: “We do what we can because that is the human condition. The bane of climate change is we do not know what will happen so lets get on with protecting it for the next 3-4 years.”

Mr Gummer also called on all SCAR’s members to flood the Boundary Committee and Secretary of State Hazel Blears with letters opposing options put forward for local government reorganisation in Suffolk.

He told the AGM, held at Orford town hall, how both options being looked at would hinder efforts to protect coastal communities, with the whole process draining funds which could have been used to shore up the coastline.

“Lets give the Secretary of State the best possible evidence that the local feeing is enough is enough. If it is not broke don’t fix it, so lets get on with this,” he said.

Sue Allen, chairman of the Blyth Estuary Group and vice chair of SCAR, told the meeting: “They (the Government) call it managed retreat. We call it total abandonment over 20 years.”

Story by Russell Claydon in the East Anglian Dialy Times

Brandon Lewis, the Conservative prospective Parliamentary candidate for Yarmouth, has recruited MP John Gummer in the battle to highlight the coastal erosion problems facing Scratby, Hemsby and Winterton.

As a member of the cross party Parliamentary group looking at coastal erosion, Mr Gummer was able to gain valuable information on the issue and how it affects Yarmouth during a visit to the area.

Mr Lewis was joined by coastal erosion campaigners from the villages in making the case to Mr Gummer for investment to hold the line on this part of the coast.

He said: “Hemsby alone puts £80m to £100m into the local economy. When you take that and the house and other business values that could be lost along this stretch of land you can easily see a cost of up to £200m for not holding the line here.

“It would only cost around £2.5m to finish the line of the rock protection that currently ends at Scratby and compared to the loss of property and business here that seems a very good investment.”

Story in the Eastern Daily Press

AREAS of the Suffolk coast will not be abandoned “unless it is absolutely necessary”, the chairman of the Environment Agency said yesterday as he held a series of meetings with groups concerned at plans to stop maintaining some of the estuary defences.

Lord Smith, who was flown by helicopter up the coast from Bawdsey to Easton Bavents, said he wanted the agency to work with local communities to identify the best solutions and find funding from a variety of possible sources.

“We want to make sure we protect as much as possible. We need to agree solutions for each individual estuary. I certainly don’t want to abandon anything unless we absolutely have to,” he said.

Lord Smith arrived at Felixstowe by car and was taken across the Deben by boat to meet members of Suffolk Coast Against Retreat.

He later visited East Lane, Bawdsey, where new sea defence work is scheduled to get under way soon – part-financed by the proceeds from the sale of “greenfield” land for housing development – before boarding a helicopter for a flight along the coast and a meeting in Southwold with the Blyth Strategy Group and the Blyth Estuary Group.

Campaigners urged him to find more money to help to “hold the line” along the cost for at least the next 20 years to enable more knowledge about coastal trends and climate change to be accumulated.

They also urged him to help relax some of the restrictions which make it difficult for landowners and local authorities to get together to undertake local public-private schemes.

Lord Smith said the national flood defence budget would be rising over the next couple of years from £600million to £800million.

“We obviously have to look at the needs of the whole of England and Wales but Suffolk is a very important part of that and we will try to make sure we deploy the funds we have available for Suffolk as best as we possibly can,” he said.

Lord Smith said there was certainly a case for looking at ways to help communities take action themselves. “However, I don’t think we can tear up all the planning laws and I don’t think we can remove some of the important environmental protections which are in place. But what we can do is try to work with the grain rather than against it,” he said.

“I very much want to see the Environment Agency working with local communities, not coming in with pre-conceived ideas but sitting down with people to talk seriously about what the options are and how we can go forward and provide the best possible protection for people.

“I want to do our very level best to protect as much as we possibly can. How we can do that has be the burden of conversation over ht next few years.

“There is some money available but there will never be the amount of money I would like to have at our disposal. So we also need to explore ways how we can tap into other sources as well. That might come from developers, other public sources and private contributions. Let’s see how we can put together the funding that might make things possible,” he added.

Suffolk Coastal MP John Gummer, who was involved in yesterday’s talks, said he hoped Lord Smith would act in a way which would not portray the agency as an arm of government but as an independent assessor.

“He clearly understands the issues and I have high hopes. We’ll do what we can do locally and but in the end we’ve got to get sufficient money from the Government to protect the coastline of England,” he said.

Story by David Green in the East Anglian Daily Times

At a packed public meeting in Hickling last night, the former Environment Secretary and Chairman of the David Cameron’s Quality of Life Commission, John Gummer MP, called for the Government to abandon its policy of managed retreat and to return to what he called a policy of, “what we have we hold.”

Mr Gummer, who was visiting North Norfolk at the request of the Conservative Spokesman for the area, Trevor Ivory, said, “It is a scandal that with all the resources and technology that are available to us today, our Government is telling us that we can no longer defend land that has been defended for centuries. It is an insult to those previous generations who had less, but still made sacrifices to defend out coastline.”

“But what is even worse is that we are leaving future generations to pick up the bill, because wherever we draw the line, we will have to defend our coast at some point. By failing to fund coastal defences now, what we are really saying is that we are going to leave it to our children and grandchildren to pay later.” Mr Gummer added.

Read the full article by Trevor Ivory on www.trevorivory.com

THE Environment Agency has been met with strong opposition from residents over its plans to push ahead with a policy of “managed retreat” on the Blyth Estuary.

The Environment Agency has confirmed its plans to abandon huge swathes of the Suffolk coast to the sea – despite massive criticism of the plans.

Suffolk County Council has responded by launching a £1.6m bid to heighten a stretch of the A12 at Blythburgh to stop the key link road between Ipswich and Lowestoft flooding.

John Gummer, Suffolk Coastal MP and a former Secretary of State for the Environment, said the EA’s decision is a disgrace.

“It shows that there was no consultation at all, everybody in the area is entirely opposed to the scheme,” he said. “I think it is very serious because not only is it extremely damaging to the future of Walberswick and Southwold but it also sets an example for the rest of the coast for which, quite clearly, this Government does not care two hoots about.”

Mr Gummer said Suffolk County Council was left with no choice but to raise a stretch of the A12.

“In a sense it is shifting the cost from the Environment Agency to the Highways Agency and the county council can do nothing else because we cannot have a situation in which Lowestoft is cut off for days on end because of flooding.”

Local landowner Andrew Blois, who is a member of the Blyth Estuary Group, said he was disappointed.

“We have said that we can protect that upstream defence at Blyth Estuary for a fraction of the £1.6m that Suffolk County Council is saying its needs to spend raising the A12. This area can be protected in a cost effective manner. It is not a financial or an engineering issue, it is a government issue. It is not managed retreat, it is abandonment.”

The Country Land and Business Association has also hit out at the EA by saying it was making a move that would leave property and farm land vulnerable to flooding.

CLA regional director Nicola Currie said: “We need flexibility and a ‘can do’ attitude to contain the problem in the short-term until all the facts are fully established if we are to avoid failing to look to the interests of future generations.”

Richard Woollard, media manager with the EA, said the Blyth strategy would be discussed by the Eastern Region Flood Defence Committee when it meets in Ipswich on September 26.

He added: “Regarding Reydon wall, we have always recognized that there is an economic case to maintain it but it is not a high enough priority when judged against other national priorities to attract national funding to rebuild the wall.”

Story in the Lowestoft Journal

Groups fighting plans to abandon coastal areas to the waves have resolved to work together to convince the government to drop the controversial proposals.

Councillors from across Suffolk and Norfolk coastal areas and from all levels of local government met for a conference in Southwold today. Also among more than 100 delegates were coastal pressure groups, Natural England, Suffolk Coastal MP John Gummer and Euro MP Geoffrey Van Orden.

They were united in wanting to stop the Environment Agency’s policy of “managed retreat”, or letting nature take its course as sea levels rise and coastal erosion continues. The conference focused on the Blyth estuary, one of the areas which will be most affected by the policy, but also heard of concerns elsewhere on the Suffolk coast and in Norfolk. Delegates decided that co-operation and communication were the key to persuading government to drop the plans and instead invest in flood defences.
Guy McGregor, Suffolk county councillor for the environment, who chaired the meeting, said: “There is no longer the feeling that the government agency will have its way and there is nothing we can do about it.”

Simon Tobin, district councillor for Southwold and Reydon and vice-chairman of the Blyth Estuary Group, said: “We were shown a map of what would happen in 20 years’ time with a policy of managed retreat. It was frightening. Large chunks of the Suffolk coastline would have disintegrated.

“The consensus is communication. There are many splinter groups, but we are beginning to pull everything together, making sure that the message is the same.”

Campaigners are due to meet with the Environment Agency in Ipswich on July 26 and environment minister Phil Woolas is due to visit the Suffolk coast next month. It follows on from a meeting in Felixstowe on Monday with Barbara Follett, minister for the east of England.

Mr Tobin said that the opposition was having an effect. “We were getting a message from the Environment Agency of ‘we are walking away from the Blyth estuary, managed retreat, we are not going to do anything’. They have been getting robust messages from the communities and from ministers that is not acceptable and they have got to come back and work with everyone concerned. It may be that some of the communities have to put money into flood defences but they are going to work with us.”

Story by Sarah Brealey in the Eastern Daily Press

A SENIOR Government minister has admitted plans to abandon sea and river defences along parts of the Suffolk coast might not go ahead unless the policy has the full support of people whose homes and businesses would be affected.

East of England minister Barbara Follett promised to take back to Whitehall the message that allowing the sea to flood hundreds of acres of the county, including the Blyth Estuary, would have a major impact on the character of the area of outstanding natural beauty, its wildlife habitats and the public’s access to them.

Mrs Follett joined leaders of Suffolk’s coastal local authorities and MP John Gummer to look at the £10million flood defence work being carried out at south Felixstowe and to hear concerns about the Environment Agency’s plans for the rest of the coastline.

This includes the policy of managed retreat along the Blyth Estuary, which could sever the A12 at Blythburgh, a road crucial to the future regeneration and prosperity of Lowestoft.

The Environment Agency says it can afford to maintain flood defences along the Blyth Estuary for only the next five years, while defences at Southwold Harbour will be maintained for only the next 20 years.

The plans could put up to 40 homes and thousands of acres of land at risk from flooding, campaigners have warned.

Mrs Follett was told by Suffolk’s Cabinet member for the environment, Guy McGregor, the so-called benefit of managed retreat on the Blyth Estuary had “not been properly considered”.

She said afterwards: “The Government, its agencies and local councils must work together for an integrated solution to the dangers of flooding.

“You can’t do something if locals disagree, especially in the context of a shoreline management plan. We have to listen to local people and work with them to decide the best way forward.

“I’ve come to see for myself the strategy in Felixstowe – it is very important for the town’s tourism that we have taken action to protect its beaches. I am happy with the work that has been done so far and I shall be taking back to colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the message that much more will have to be done to protect this precious coastline.”

Revealing that the Defra minister of state, Phil Woolas, would visit the area next month, Mrs Follett said: “I see myself as an electric cattle prod – ensuring that everyone works together to ensure joined-up thinking.”

Mr Gummer said the minister had listened carefully to concerns at the meeting and hoped the outcome would be that the Government would look into the concerns and needs of local people.

Suffolk Coastal district’s deputy leader, Andy Smith, said: “Our attention is now firmly on the apparently uncertain future of much of the East Suffolk coastline and particularly its estuaries, put firmly in the spotlight by the Environment Agency’s proposals for the Blyth.”

Describing the agency’s plans for the Blyth estuary as “detrimental”, Waveney’s portfolio holder for customer access, Simon Tobin, said: “We cannot accept the current proposals. We hope we have persuaded the minister to get the Government’s backing for a revised national approach to estuary strategies.”

Story in the East Anglian Daily Times