THE PIER extensions may in future be protected by rock armour as part of a new strategy to safeguard the Whitby coast.

Stewart Rowe, Scarborough Borough Council’s principal coastal officer, gave a presentation at a full meeting of Whitby Town Council (6 Dec) about work that is taking place to create a new coastal defence strategy.

In this presentation he suggested that to completely repair all of Whitby’s sea defences, including the harbour, would cost around £80m. (more…)

Human rights will be breached if Great Yarmouth Borough Council fails to protect more than a dozen cliff-top homes and businesses from the ocean.

That is the view of Brian Hardisty whose Hopton home will be engulfed with 14 houses and two holiday companies if the Kelling to Lowestoft Ness Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) is approved.

His warning comes after plans revealed sea defences at Yarmouth and Gorleston would be maintained, while parts of Hopton would be allowed to fall into the sea. (more…)

A NEW online mapping facility shows how at risk Worthing, Shoreham and Littlehampton’s coastlines are from erosion and flooding.

The coastal erosion map was made live on the Environment Agency’s website last week, and allows users to see what changes, if any, there might be to the coastline where they live in the next 15 years.

The map for the South Downs area is one of just two unveiled last week as pilots for this project. It charts the coastline from Beachy Head in the east to Selsey Bill in the west, and predicts any changes to the coastline in our area by 2025 are likely to be “negligible”. (more…)

Large parts of the Sussex coastline will disappear into the sea within 15 years, a Government report has revealed.

A study by the Environment Agency into coastal defences across Sussex highlights more than ten miles of the shoreline which will be lost to erosion.

Newhaven, Seaford and beauty spots such as Birling Gap are all listed as being affected by damage caused by the sea because of a lack of protection.

And the report warns as much as 20 metres of land could be lost in some places by 2025. (more…)

Wales must prepare for coastal erosion such as the landslip that left 15 caravans teetering on the edge of cliff near Barry, a minister says.

Environment Minister John Griffiths is launching a new strategy aimed at managing and reducing the risks and fall out of flooding and erosion.

It aims to raise awareness, improve responses and prioritise investment in the areas most at risk.

One expert says people must accept saving all the coastline is too costly. (more…)

Plans for the future management of the north Suffolk coast were approved by councillors last night.

Members of Waveney District Council’s cabinet met on Wednesday to formally adopt the county’s Shoreline Management Plan (SMP), which covers the stretch of coast between Lowestoft Ness and Felixstowe.

The SMP was provisionally approved by the cabinet last November and, following delays, it has since been approved by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), signed off by the Environment Agency, and adopted by Suffolk Coastal District Council last week. (more…)

Plans to tackle erosion and flooding along Suffolk’s coastline have taken a step closer to being fully approved.

Suffolk Coastal District Council’s cabinet backed the Shoreline Management Plan, which would run until 2105.

The proposals say it is too expensive to protect all 45 miles of the coast so areas including Covehithe and Benacre Broad will not be defended.

Waveney District Council is expected to provide the final sign off when its cabinet meets next Tuesday. (more…)

Several caravans at a South Wales caravan park have been left hanging from the edge of a cliff after a large section of it broke away and crashed to the beach below.

Around 40ft of rock came away from the cliff face at the Knapp Beach end of the Porthkerry Leisure Park in the Vale of Glamorgan.

It is understood no caravans went over the edge but 13 could be seen sticking well out over the edge. At least one was occupied at the time and the woman was said to be “petrified”. (more…)

A coastal defence scheme which could see the shape of Suffolk’s shoreline altered dramatically over the next century is set to be adopted by district leaders.

Plans to manage the 45 mile stretch between Lowestoft Ness and Languard Point in Felixstowe had been subject to opposition from inhabitants of communities denied investment for long-term defence against erosion.

Though flood risk would continue to be managed in all of the county’s main coastal towns and principal villages, areas with no proposed measures in place to slow erosion could be lost to the North Sea by as early as 2055. (more…)

PLANS have been drawn up to protect a unique stretch of coastline for the future.

East Durham’s shoreline is the only one of its kind in the world thanks to its magnesium make-up and it’s because of this it has special status to protect the land, wildlife and plants.

The Environment Agency has set aside £300,000 to monitor the coast from St Abbs in the Scottish Borders to the Humber Estuary, which will result in a buoy being put in the North Sea to collect wave data, a survey of the sea bed and profiles of beaches being carried out. (more…)