Hopton is aiming to swing a breaker’s ball through a coastal defence plan which suggests no defence.

Leaflets will be dropping on to more than 1,000 doormats urging villagers to take a stand against the Government’s Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) at a public meeting at Potters Leisure Resort on Thursday.

Its suggestion to abandon a huge stretch of the coast to the sea has caused a storm of protest. But Brian Hardisty, chairman of Hopton Coastal Action Group, says not enough people have woken up to the implications of the plan on house prices and the damage it could do to the tourist industry. (more…)

A village and more than 1,000 acres of land would be lost to the sea if plans laid out in a blueprint for tackling erosion in Suffolk are accepted.

The Environment Agency’s Shoreline Management Plan calls for the continued defence of major towns and villages from flooding and coastal erosion.

But it also says over the next 30 to 40 years the village of Covehithe will be surrendered to the sea. (more…)

A SMALL community has told of its determination to protect its homes against coastal erosion after learning it is set to be abandoned to the ravages of the North Sea.

Residents in the tiny hamlet of Covehithe, just north of Southwold, face an uncertain future if Suffolk’s Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) is given the green light.

The scheme has been drawn up to suggest how flood and erosion risk should be tackled along the coast from Lowestoft Ness to Languard Point in Felixstowe.

At Covehithe it recommends a policy of “no active intervention” for the next century – meaning that within 30 to 40 years the entire hamlet, including homes, the historic 15th century church and important conservation areas, will be lost. (more…)

A PLAN to stop a road collapsing into the sea is being held back by red tape, it is claimed.

The road leading to Eskmeals Gun Range, near Bootle, is seven feet away from the highest water level during a storm.

Fears are mounting that one or two extreme waves will result in the road falling into the sea.

Gun range managers QinetiQ plans to install concrete blocks on the beach to protect the road, but needs permission from “a number of parties” before the work can be carried out. (more…)

NATURE will continue to take its course along vast swathes of the Holderness coast for the next century under controversial new proposals.

Consultation started yesterday on a “no active intervention” policy for much of East Yorkshire’s fast crumbling coastline, outside settlements and towns which will continue to be defended.

The number two shoreline management plan – which cost more than £300,000 – draws strikingly similar conclusions to a report 10 years ago and has already attracted criticism from some local residents who say the money would have been better spent on helping those who face losing their homes. (more…)

The future of Cumbria’s Eskmeals firing range is in doubt because the only access road is in danger of being washed away.

The Ministry of Defence gun range, operated by QinetiQ, employs 82 people.

But the only access, from the A595 at Bootle in west Cumbria, is at risk from coastal erosion. (more…)