NATURAL England experts have objected to a bid by residents to slow the decline of Sidmouth’s crumbling coastline – because the scheme will halt rapid erosion.

Cliff Road homeowners hope to reach an agreement with the body over their proposals for a £900,000 rock revetment along the base of cliffs near Pennington Point.

A group of residents, turned activists, spent £10,000 on a planning application they think will prevent catastrophic flooding of the town, protect Alma Bridge and the coastal footpath, and save their properties from toppling into the sea.

But Natural England says the proposed rock revetment is in “direct conflict” with a shoreline management plan for the area.

Experts say in a report: “This stretch is one of the most productive sources of rare Triassic fossil vertebrates and new finds are regularly made in the cliff falls.

“The revetment will prevent erosion, halting natural processes which maintain fresh sections and provide a renewed supply of fallen fossil bearing rocks for study.

“The construction, in our view, will permanently change the landscape character of this area from one of naturalness and wilderness to one where a man-made structure dominates.”

They also claim the retaining wall will have “a permanent major adverse visual impact”.

Residents were due meet with Natural England representatives and a district council officer this week to discuss objections, but talks were delayed until September.

A decision by East Devon District Council (EDDC) on the fate of the 240metre granite wall – which has garnered widespread public support – is expected in October or November.

Cliff Road campaigner Paul Griew said: “We’ll discuss possible options, find out what the objections and key issues are, and see if we can find some common ground.

“They want natural erosion to continue at 10cm a year, and so do we.

“Since the rock islands were built the rate has been 20 to 30 times greater.

“Our plans are the only option we’ve yet heard that will actually achieve our objectives. We’re only too pleased to listen to other ideas.

“If we can’t find an agreement we’ll press ahead with the planning application. At least we’ll know we tried to reach and agreement.”

National Trust representatives also told the district council in an objection: “Developments might impede natural processes or obscure exposed geology.”

Story by Stefan Gordon in the Sidmouth Herald

MORE than 125 people flocked to a Jurassic Coast Pathfinder exhibition that sparked debate on Sidmouth’s crumbling coast.

Recharging beach at Pennington Point or extending town-centre sea defences to the east were suggested by those who attended the event at Kennaway House last Thursday, writes Charlie Lister.

Residents and visitors got the chance to learn more about coastal erosion and get involved in making decisions about managing the coastline.

Scores browsed information on display, with 80 packing a pair of presentations held by the Pathfinder team.

Project manager Rupert Lloyd said the event was well-received.

He added: “It was evident from the discussions that people in Sidmouth are keen to get involved in sustainable ways to adapt to change.

“There was a good mix of residents and visitors who contributed to a lively discussion about the future of Pennington Point.”

The exhibition included specially commissioned, digitally-generated images of how radically Sidmouth’s coast could change in 20, 50 and 100 years time.

But the project team emphasised that these dramatic projections only show how Pennington Point might change under a policy of ‘no active intervention’ and encouraged a discussion of the alternative options.

The current policy is one of ‘managed realignment’.

Mr Lloyd added: “Proposed ideas included recharging the beach at Pennington Point, or extending the sea defences which protect the town centre to the east end of the beach.”

“A lot of people are aware that coastal change will always happen, that’s the reason that Sidmouth, as part of the Jurassic Coast, is a World Heritage Site.”

“We cannot afford to defend everywhere forever against the advancing sea, but we can widen the range of options open to communities to adapt to change.”

The Jurassic Coast Pathfinder project was launched in December 2009 as one of 15 projects nationwide designed to better engage communities in the process of planning to adapt to coastal erosion.

A priority aim of the project is to “encourage coastal communities to actively and meaningfully participate in the decision making process regarding coastal change.”

Story by Charlie Lister in the Sidmouth Herald

RESIDENTS will get a glimpse of what Sidmouth’s coastline could look like in the next 20 to 100 years next month.

Specially commissioned computer-generated images will feature in a special exhibition aimed at highlighting the causes of coastal change- and how erosion might affect the town in the future.

The event, at Kennaway House on Thursday, July 21, from 10am to 8pm, will give visitors the chance to see what Sidmouth’s Jurassic Coast may look like in 20,50 and 100 years time.

They can also find out how other communities have adapted to changes.

Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council’s cabinet member for the Environment, said: “Communities along the Jurassic Coast have lived with the impact of erosion, storms and rising sea levels for generations.

“These risks are only going to increase in the future, so it is important we continue to work together with residents and visitors to develop options to adapt to the threat of coastal change.

“I would encourage everyone to come along to this exhibition and see how the coastal erosion may affect them in the future.”

Story by Stefan Gordon in the Sidmouth Herald

Residents who live in 12 properties on Cliff Road say their properties are threatened because of cliff erosion. They have submitted a planning application for a protection scheme to East Devon District Council.

The residents have funded the £10,000 application themselves which is for a 240-metre long, 4.5-metre high rock revetment at the base of the cliffs near Pennington Point at the mouth of the River Sid.

The scheme could cost around £900,000 of public money.

Residents say their homes could fall over the cliff face within 15 years if action is not taken soon.

They say the erosion was accelerated from around 2002 after the installation of rock groynes along the seafront in 1995.

Resident, Peter Hand, 71, said: “In the last 10 years the cliffs have eroded more than they have in the last 100 years. We’ve been campaigning for over a decade for something to be done about the rate of erosion.

“When the rock groynes were put in, the current in the bay changed. The shingle, that used to move back and forwards, gets taken away by the tides and doesn’t replenish.

“As a result, the waves began to hit the cliffs at the eastern end of Sidmouth far more.

“When I first moved here, a footpath ran along the cliff tops at the bottom of our gardens, but that has now disappeared.

“We’re worried about who will be liable if someone is killed on the beach below because it’s our land not the council’s anymore.”

Paul Griew, 63, said residents were also concerned the cliff erosion at the mouth of the river may mean the town and sewage works become flooded.

He said: “We’re probably doing the council’s work for them, but if this is what it takes to kick start the process then so be it. In 2007 the cliffs were eroding at about two metres a year and by 2009 it was an average of three – four metres a year. One resident lost 10 metres of his garden in 2002 alone.

“And I’ve lost 15 metres in the last two years.

“There is a real and immediate risk to our homes – if it continues like this at the current rate we’ll have to leave our homes in 15 years.

“And one of the country’s busiest footpaths, which is used by around 250,000 people a year, will disappear.

“This could have a disastrous affect on tourism and the economy of Sidmouth.

An East Devon District Council spokesman said: “Until recently, coastal protection policy did not allow for this section of coastline to be considered for the kind of works proposed in this application.

“Now an area to the east of the River Sid is part of a ‘unit’ in the latest version of the national Shoreline Management Plan. This unit is earmarked for ‘managed realignment’. This could mean a scheme of some description might be possible here, but it will be subject to many checks and balances before it could go ahead.

“There is a tension between coastal protection and allowing natural processes of erosion, and there are strong lobbies for both approaches.

“Any scheme will have to pass the scrutiny of Natural England and the Environment Agency.”

Story in the Exeter Express & Echo

SIDMOUTH could cash in on a share of £376,500 awarded to Dorset County Council to fight rising sea levels and coastal erosion caused by climate change.

On Wednesday the Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) awarded £11 million in grants to local authorities through its Coastal Change Pathfinder competition.

Dorset CC, in partnership with Devon County Council, successfully bid under the banner of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

“This is brilliant news for Sidmouth, being the only coastal location identified in Devon, and I believe it may well be possible to draw down the funding to help us come up with a scheme that will be acceptable to everyone that will protect Sidmouth from coastal flooding,” said Councillor Stuart Hughes.

“The challenge is how our communities like Sidmouth will respond to the threat of coastal change, yet remain vibrant and thriving communities. I look forward to the outcomes of this work.”

During a discussion about erosion at Pennington Point at Wednesday’s meeting of East Devon District Council’s executive board, he announced the award and hoped it would help fund periodic surveys of the cliff and beach, at a cost of £10,000 each, and a report appraising the outcomes of a 2001 report, which came up with four options to protect the cliffs.

This report, costing some £40,000, would form part of a submission to Defra seeking funding and approval for a scheme to better protect Sidmouth from continued erosion.

EDDC has no budget for either reports, but the board was in favour of both, accepting a revised report from consultants Royal Haskoning that periodic surveys were needed.

Councillor Peter Halse said erosion was “a serious issue for Sidmouth. While the rock groynes protected the town, there was little doubt there had been an adverse effect on Pennington Point.

Richard Eley, chairman of Sidmouth Chamber of Commerce and Robert Crick, chairman of Sidmouth Vision Group, made representations to the board before its debate.

Mr Eley said if the erosion rates from the 2001 and the latest report were both accurate “then the cliffs at Pennington Point must have grown towards France by 2.58 metres.”

He said the 2001 report’s figures should be discarded, adding: “We really do need to get these figures correct so the decision-making process is properly informed.”

Councillor Graham Liverton, chairman of EDDC, said: “I am beginning to wonder whether the people we had to do this survey are worth their salt. The 2001 report is not worth the paper it is printed on.”

Mark Reilly, head of StreetScene, said: “We need to identify the rates of erosion of the cliffs, which is spasmodic. As an authority we rely on information given from consultants.

“We believe there is a need for regular periodic surveys to monitor cliff erosion.”

Mr Hughes said loss of beach material directly affected cliff erosion.

“If there is no beach material then twice a day the sea bangs the bottom of the cliffs and loosens it.”

He predicted more erosion this winter because of the lack of beach.

EDDC would like other interested parties, such as National Trust, DCC and South West Water to continue to meet to consider future issues affecting Pennington Point.

Story in the Sidmouth Herald

A CAUTIOUS welcome has been given to the revised South Devon and Dorset Shoreline Management plan by Devon County Council.

The revised plan updates the original SMP, first published in 1998, which sets out how the coastline and coastal risks should be managed from Plymouth to Durlston Head near Swanage over the next 20, 50 and 100 years.

Consultations on the plan, prepared for South Devon and Dorset Coastal Advisory Group, end today (Friday, July 24).

DCC supports the ‘hold the line’ policy option for continued investment in maintaining existing coastal defences to prevent flooding and erosion, and to leave undeveloped and open coast to evolve naturally.

Objections were raised to the policy of ‘managed realignment’, with concerns over the potential threat to Alma Bridge and the eastern part of Sidmouth, caused by a receding coastline, the impact on Seaton Tramway, and how a significant increase in tidal surge could affect Axmouth Bridge.

County is calling for further discussion and potential alternative solutions to be considered.

Sidmouth/Sidford County Councillor Stuart Hughes, DCC’s cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: “This is the first opportunity we’ve had to address any anomalies in the plan since it was published 11 years ago.

“It is of the utmost importance that we respond and generally our response supports the SMP proposals.

“My only hope is that those responsible for the SMP will take our comments on board.

“Any proposals have to be the right ones to ensure the safety of residents and the local economy which would be severely affected in a flooding incident.”

The review document can be found at: www.sdadcag.org.

Story in the Sidmouth Herald

THE public can have their say on long-term plans for the South Devon and Dorset coastline in a series of consultation events in June.

The South Devon and Dorset Coastal Group’s production of a shoreline management plan will affect Sidmouth and other East Devon coastal towns in the future.

The nearest drop-in event to Sidmouth is at Bridport Leisure Centre on Wednesday, June 3, from 2pm to 6pm.

Alan Rafelt of the Environment Agency said it was important to plan for the future: “As a result of climate change, the coastline will be subject to rising sea level and more frequent storms.”

Check out the group’s website: www.sdadcag.org for more information.

Story on the Devon24 website

FAILING to include Cliff Road residents in a meeting of main asset owners over eroding Pennington Point, Sidmouth, has delayed debate on a consultant’s report.

East Devon District Council’s executive board agreed on Wednesday to hold a meeting between officers, consultants Royal Haskoning and owners of 12 cliff-top homes before debating what, if any, action to take to protect the Point.

In February, EDDC held a meeting with Royal Haskoning and main asset owners Devon County Council, Environment Agency and South West Water. The National Trust, main beach owner, did not attend.

Subsequently consultants told EDDC there was no justification for emergency or coastal protection works at Pennington Point.

Addressing the executive, Peter Hand, chairman of Salcombe Hill Association; one of 16 residents at the meeting, asked why Cliff Road householders had not been asked to that meeting.

“Did the council not consider it necessary to contact or consult with the owners of these assets, who in 2001 had offered to give the council a further 15 metres of their gardens to enable a new cliff top Coastal Path to be rebuilt?” he asked.

He said the value of keeping Hangar Path and Alma Bridge as an asset for Sidmouth had been recognised by Sidmouth Chamber of Commerce and Sidmouth and District Hospitality Association.

“The income to the town by users of the Coastal Path in the main tourist season was assessed in 2002 at £250,000.

“Was this benefit, certainly an asset to Sidmouth, taken into account as your report does not indicate that these bodies were consulted?” he asked.

The accuracy of the report was questioned by Robert Crick, chairman of the Vision Group for Sidmouth.

He said: “Photographic and Ordnance Survey records confirm residents’ perceptions that the Point did not recede by 55 metres (180 feet) between the 1880s and 1990s.

“I believe a decimal point has been misplaced, which suggests that this report is fatally flawed.”

Leader Councillor Sara Randall Johnson asked the executive to defer the matter to a future meeting and asked officers and Royal Haskoning to meet with those at the meeting and go through the report to check issues detailed as incorrect.

Addressing the executive, resident Miriam Brown said attaching mesh to capture falls, drilling boreholes to drain away water and building a multi-million pound retaining wall would not stop Salcombe Cliffs from crumbling.

Neither did she favour putting thousands of tons of pebbles down, which waves “might hurl at the cliffs, making the situation far worse.”

She suggested widening the River Sid to nudge it westwards as “over centuries the course of the river has moved gradually eastwards.”

Completing a statement from Mr Hand, Graham Keen from SHA said: “This council seems to have lost the plot in relation to the future of Sidmouth.”

EDDC should have developed a forward plan for the town instead of one for Seaton and Exmouth, he said.

“What the town needs is protection of the cliffs at toe level and drainage at the top, so as to reduce both types of erosion.

“We urge you to at least put in place the necessary prerequisite of a Shoreline Management Plan which was promised in 2005 but never delivered.”

After the meeting Mr Hand said councillors had “escaped serious debate.

“It is kicked into touch at the moment, we will have to see.”

Councillor Graham Liverton, portfolio holder environment, said: “The best way forward is to work together on this because it is a complicated issue.

“There are very emotive feelings on this that affect the whole town, not just those in Eastern town.”

He emphasised EDDC only owned Pennington Point, “what is left of it” and the rest by other agencies.

“We have led the way on this, I am not happy that someone says we are inactive. We led the way on getting these agencies together in order to resolve the issue.

Story in the Sidmouth Herald

RECENT dramatic cliff falls at Pennington Point have left the pathway linking Eastern Town with the rest of Sidmouth at risk.

Now, after more than a decade of surveys and discussions, the time has come for action, say Cliff Road residents and the Sidmouth Herald.

In 2002 one of four protection schemes was agreed by East Devon District Council, but rejected by English Nature, who felt it important to allow natural erosion to protect the cliff’s fauna and flora.

Since its abandonment, there seems to have been little done to protect the cliffs, which have suffered serious erosion through 2008/9.

With the new threat to Hangar Path, Sidmouth County Councillor Stuart Hughes has asked district and county councils to look into ways of diverting it “as a matter of urgency.”

He said: “If something isn’t done to divert the path it will soon be closed.”

He told Mark Williams, chief executive of EDDC: “It is in the interests of everyone living in Sidmouth and our local economy that Alma Bridge isn’t closed.”

“If the cliffs are not protected here the whole Port Royal development is at risk,” warned Tony Miller of Cliff Road. “The main cause of frustration is nothing is happening.”

Residents fear continuing falls will threaten the whole of Sidmouth, not just their homes.

Salcombe Hill Association, chaired by Peter Hand, has been fighting for more than a decade to secure coastal protection works.

Mr Hand said: “The number of walkers has increased dramatically. If the path is closed walkers will have to go down Salcombe Hill and will then go along All Saints Road and carry on.

“There is a great danger the town will lose revenue.”

He said residents, who have re-named Pennington Point Pennington Cove, were concerned at how long it was taking to okay emergency works to protect the cliffs and River Sid.

“The only flowers you can see are those that have fallen out of my garden.” said Cliff Road resident Martin Macinerny, who has lost 12 metres of land over the years.

“If any district councillors walk across the bridge they walk into a substantially built-up part of Sidmouth, more built up than the equivalent western side.”

Residents planned to attend next week’s EDDC executive board meeting to hear how its joint discussions with other interested parties, such as South West Water, National Trust, DCC and the Environment Agency, had progressed, but the report has been delayed until April.

A council spokesman said a new statement about the cliffs would be issued “within the next week or so” as soon as these talks, which follow a study by consultants, were complete.

A spokeswoman for South West Water, which has a sewage pumping station based at the River Sid, said it was confident it was protected from coastal erosion “for many years to come.

Story in the Sidmouth Herald

MOVES are being made to tackle the problem of erosion of the cliff face at Pennington Point, Sidmouth, and the safety issues raised by encroachment of the sea and landslips caused by heavy rain.

East Devon District Council is to review the current state of the cliffs with a view to the possibility of bringing forward a coastal protection scheme designed to give a degree of protection to Pennington Point near the mouth of the River Sid and reducing the threat to Eastern Town from encroachment by the waves as a result of coastal erosion and rising sea levels.
Members and officers of EDDC met informally with members of Sidmouth Town Council this week and agreed that the best way forward was for the District Council to review of the state of the cliffs and the likely impact of climate change. This would be a separate exercise from the Shoreline Management Plan which is currently being prepared nationally.

EDDC will refer the matter to its Corporate Overview Committee, which will look at the known facts and recommend how the new review should be structured.

Councillor Graham Liverton, EDDC’s Portfolio Holder Environment, and a Sidmouth Ward Member, said: “We are determined to ensure that Sidmouth is protected. There are limits as to what we can do because of the constraints imposed by national agencies, World Heritage Coast status, land ownership* and funding. But at least we can look at the options afresh.

“We propose to have completed the review and have a draft plan in place by the spring of 2009″.

Story in the Sidmouth Herald