Like Churchill, Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the British Army, is preparing to fight them on the beaches. He is not alone. The Norfolk landowner has been promised support from hundreds of angry villagers, appalled by official plans to flood a stretch of East Anglia’s coastline, letting the sea roll into 25 square miles of the Norfolk Broads, drowning six villages, hundreds of homes and thousands of acres of prime farming land. All along the East Coast, local communities are preparing for conflict with the Environment Agency over its plans for “managed retreat” - surrendering low-lying lands to the encroaching sea. At an ever quicker pace, South-East England is sinking, and the agency, appalled at the cost of keeping the sea at bay, has decided it will no longer play Canute.
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AS head of the army, his job is to defend the realm against any incursion. Now General Sir Richard Dannatt has taken up arms against a new invader - the North Sea, which under a bureaucratic plan may be allowed to take over swathes of his beloved Norfolk Broads.
Dannatt, chief of the general staff, has warned of the “tragedy” threatening the area if the scheme is put into effect. It would see the defences holding back the sea retreat four miles from a stretch of East Anglian coast, surrendering 25 square miles of territory - including five villages - to rising sea levels.
Read the full story by Roger Waite on the Times website
Britain’s top soldier - who has spent a professional lifetime defending the realm - last night joined the battle to save huge swathes of Norfolk from being surrendered to the sea.
General Sir Richard Dannatt, who is a Norfolk farmer and president of the 2008 Royal Norfolk Show, said it would be a tragedy if plans to allow the sea to breach coastal defences between Horsey and Winterton, were allowed to go ahead.
Speaking exclusively to the EDP, Sir Richard said he was shocked to hear that the area around Horsey - one of his favourite locations in the county - was at the heart of proposals to allow the sea defences to be breached in a move that would see 25 sq miles of the Broads surrendered to the sea.
Sir Richard, who as Chief of the General Staff is the professional head of the British Army, said: “I think it would be a tragedy if we allowed that area to be given up and inundated.”
The General, who pointed out that he spent his professional life “defending UK interests” and by definition, potentially protecting UK territory, added: “I think to give up a great chunk of Norfolk to the sea without a fight is something I find quite counter-intuitive and quite difficult to do.
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