The list of unanswered questions is a long one, but at least the debate about compensation has reached the highest level, where it was previously only spoken about in hushed tones. Ed Foss asks - what comes next?

The issue of compensation - often referred to as ’social justice’ - has been on the lips of campaigners and government officials for years, albeit the latter almost exclusively in private. But this is the first time someone in such a high-profile position has aired such views in the public arena.

Lord Smith’s words are to be welcomed in part. After all, his comments raise the issue of compensation higher up the scale than it has ever been.

But they are also difficult to interpret. If there is to be a scheme of compensation, when will it happen, will it be retrospective and who will qualify? And perhaps most importantly, what form will it take - will it meet campaigners’ demands of 100pc of market value, or will the figures be too great for the taxpayer to swallow? (more…)

A 15,000-name petition calling for the government to confirm a commitment to protect the Broads from being swamped by the sea will be handed in tomorrow before parliament shuts for the summer.

The bumper document follows a pledge to protect a vulnerable stretch of coast for at least 50 years, made by environment minister Phil Woolas during a recent visit to north east Norfolk.

He defused fears over a Natural England scenario which said one option in the face of coastal erosion was to surrender six villages and 25 square miles of Broads countryside to the sea, if defences were too expensive or difficult. (more…)

As the world’s top golfers battle it out for the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, the oldest links course in England - the 144-year-old Royal North Devon at Westward Ho! - is engaged in a fight for survival.

The course, home to the oldest ladies’ golf club in the world and renowned for its association with golfing great John Henry Taylor - who won the Open five times between 1894 and 1913 and went on to design Royal Birkdale - is crumbling into the sea.

And campaigners trying to save it are furious that Natural England, the government agency responsible for coastline management, have stopped sea defences protecting the course being repaired as part of their policy of managed retreat. (more…)

A GOVERNMENT minister has reassured villagers living on the coast they will not lose their homes, even though a government body has put forward a plan to allow the sea inland.

Instead, Floods Minister Phil Woolas said the government had called on the Environment Agency to provide a report on how the coastline can be protected from erosion over the next 100 years.

He also pledged £100m of government funding would be spent on bolstering defences over the next 50 years during a visit to some of the threatened villages where he met parish councillors and residents faced with the prospect of losing their homes under a Natural England option. (more…)

Villagers in Norfolk in fear of a scheme to flood their land to save the coast have been told that is not the government’s intention. - Piece on BBC Look East

“The minister also visited some of the sea defences and was told about places like Happisburgh where homes are falling into the sea. On that issue he could offer no hope. “We can’t stop coastal erosion” he said. But on the Broads, his message was clear - they will be protected.

Norfolk is to stand firm against the ravages of the ever-encroaching North Sea for at least another half century after the government confirmed £100m will be spent on sea defences over the next 50 years.

People living in vulnerable coastal and low-lying areas of Norfolk breathed a sigh of relief yesterday after environment minister Phil Woolas gave reassurances their homes would not be left to flood.

Responding to worries over a Natural England draft report, which includes the option of allowing a 25sqm area of Norfolk to flood, Mr Woolas said the proposal was “not an option,” and stressed it was the government who drew up sea defence policy not Natural England.

As he visited the county to see the effect of coastal erosion and listen to local concerns Mr Woolas said the government was committed to keeping the sea at bay for at least the next 50 years and pledged £100m of investment in sea defences over that period. (more…)

Villagers in Norfolk in fear of a scheme to flood them to save the coast have been told that is not the government’s intention.

The floods minister, Phil Woolas, has been visiting Sea Palling, 15 miles up the coast from Great Yarmouth.

He told people there that a scenario by Natural England to allow six villages to succumb to rising sea levels, was not what was going to happen.

He said it was the government’s duty to protect the area.

Read the full story on the BBC News website

People who faced losing their homes through the effects of climate change should be compensated, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said yesterday.

He met a handful of people at Happisburgh whose homes have been blighted by sea erosion, then addressed hundreds more at Hickling about the idea to surrender 25 square miles of the broads area to the sea.

Mr Clegg hit out at Natural England, which wrote the report suggesting at least six villages could be sacrificed to the sea as continuing to defend them was too difficult and costly. He said it was an insensitive, cavalier approach to the issue. (more…)

A top official from an agency considering the surrender of a large swathe of the Broads to the North Sea walked into the lions’ den last night to speak at a public meeting for the first time about the contentious scheme.

Shaun Thomas, the regional director of Natural England, spoke directly to the representatives of communities that face the threat of being flooded in between 20 to 50 years’ time.

And Mr Thomas told parish council leaders that more public meetings should be held over his organisation’s leaked report which contained proposals to abandon sea defences from Eccles to Winterton. (more…)

Officials from government agency Natural England will be in Norfolk this evening to discuss proposals to surrender 25sq miles of the Broads to the North Sea.

Tonight’s meeting at Somerton village hall, near Stalham, will be the first time the government’s conservations advisers have discussed the report at a forum in Norfolk. (more…)