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…)