From the Holy Trinity Church looming over the marshes at Blythburgh to a safe haven for rare birds, the banks of the Blyth estuary offer some of north Suffolk’s most peaceful countryside.

But the village landmarks, animals and farmland could soon be lost to the sea if campaigners are defeated and the Environment Agency’s (EA) proposals to stop maintaining the area’s flood defences are given the go-ahead. (more…)

The battle to protect large sections of the north Suffolk coastline from flooding was dealt a huge blow last night after it emerged environment chiefs were set to continue with plans to abandon defences.

Protesters have fought a high- profile campaign against the Environment Agency’s proposals to stop maintaining flood defences along the Blyth estuary, but appear to be facing a bitter defeat. (more…)

Southwold always seemed an unlikely holiday destination for the Prime Minister: charming, upmarket, its development paternalistically guided by the Adnams brewery. The one thing he might have liked was the quiet. Except that, when Gordon Brown was there, calm was thrown to the blustery North Sea winds.

The burghers of this most easy-going of seaside towns actually mounted a demonstration. The subject that had got their blood up was coastal defence.

Over the past couple of days, Lord Smith of Finchley has relit the firework. Otherwise known as the ex-Culture Secretary Chris Smith, he now heads the Environment Agency.

A report on sea defences, due next year, is expected to make uncomfortable reading for parts of Norfolk, Suffolk and elsewhere. Already, the River Blyth, near Southwold, is being abandoned.

Read the full story by Clive Aslet in the Telegraph

ENVIRONMENT Agency officials are talking to the owners of 23 homes in the Blyth Estuary over possible ways to reduce the risk of their properties flooding and minimising damage if they do flood.

The move follows proposals to phase out maintenance of flood defences in the estuary in order to release more funds to help protect populated areas.

At first 40 properties in the Blyth estuary were expected to be at increased risk of flooding if the proposals went ahead but a further, more detailed study has established that only 23 of them are protected by the existing walls - in a deteriorating condition and, according to the Environment Agency, likely to cost £34million to re-build.

Officials are now talking to the owners about ways to protect their properties on a local basis - by creating small earthbanks in strategic locations. (more…)

EUROPEAN funding could soon be available to protect land and homes in north Suffolk which are to be abandoned to the sea.

East of England MEP Geoffrey van Orden, met flooding and erosion experts from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) in a bid to secure funding to protect the Blyth estuary.

Mr van Orden, who took a boat trip around the estuary in February to see breaches in the walls for himself, said that the meeting in Cambridge was a success and he is now working towards putting in a formal bid for regional development funding. (more…)

CAMPAIGNERS have pleaded with Prime Minister Gordon Brown to intervene in plans to abandon flood defences on the Suffolk coast.

The protestors, angry at plans to withdraw funding for flood defences on the Blyth estuary, staged a demonstration on Southwold promenade - timed to coincide with the Prime Minister’s holiday on the Suffolk coast.

Hundreds of people formed a human chain, linking arms and holding banners reading “Gord Help Us” and “Save Our Shoreline”. (more…)

HUNDREDS of campaigners today formed a human chain along Southwold’s promenade to send a message to Gordon Brown about the Governent’s policy of abandoning the Suffolk coast to the ravages of the sea.

The Blyth Estuary protestors - who are angry about the Environment Agency’s plans to withdraw funding for flood defences at the Blyth Estuary - took their fight to Mr Brown, who is currently enjoying a summer holiday in the area.

The protesters linked arms and chanted “SOS” while some held banners saying: “Gord Help Us. Save Our Shoreline.” (more…)

Flood defence campaigners are to lobby parliament in what could be a crucial week in their bid to save land and homes from being lost to the sea.

Members of the Blyth Strategy Group, which opposes the Environment Agency’s (EA) plans to stop maintaining flood banks in the north Suffolk estuary in the next 20 years, and representatives from local councils will travel to Westminster tomorrow.

The move comes less than a week after environment minister Phil Woolas visited Norfolk communities and told them that in spite of draft proposals by Natural England to allow a 25 sq mile area of land to flood, their homes would not be sacrificed to the sea. (more…)

Groups fighting plans to abandon coastal areas to the waves have resolved to work together to convince the government to drop the controversial proposals.

Councillors from across Suffolk and Norfolk coastal areas and from all levels of local government met for a conference in Southwold today. Also among more than 100 delegates were coastal pressure groups, Natural England, Suffolk Coastal MP John Gummer and Euro MP Geoffrey Van Orden.

They were united in wanting to stop the Environment Agency’s policy of “managed retreat”, or letting nature take its course as sea levels rise and coastal erosion continues. The conference focused on the Blyth estuary, one of the areas which will be most affected by the policy, but also heard of concerns elsewhere on the Suffolk coast and in Norfolk. Delegates decided that co-operation and communication were the key to persuading government to drop the plans and instead invest in flood defences. (more…)

A legal victory by the tenant of a cliff-top chalet in East Anglia is good news for everybody living on the coast of England, it was claimed last night.

Charles England, the tenant of a chalet at Easton Bavents, near Southwold, has won an appeal against a refusal by conservation body Natural England to allow him to maintain the shingle sea defences protecting his property.

Last night his neighbour, Peter Boggis, who has spent £500,000 constructing his own sea defences along that stretch of coastline, said: “This decision has repercussions for everybody living on the coast of England. It means bureaucracy no longer has the upper hand to bully people and assure the destruction of their properties.”

Retired engineer Mr Boggis, who is spokesman for Easton Bavents Conservation and is fighting his own legal battle against Natural England over his defences, added: “I am thankful to the inspector and the secretary of state for the clarity of their decision.

“It has been hell to watch my, and my neighbour’s, property being destroyed at the whim of dictatorial agencies, having personally taken care to protect them without cost to the nation until forced to neglect them by Natural England in December 2005.”

Natural England, which declared the area a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) argued that protecting the cliffs would prevent access, study and analysis of geological exposures in the cliff. It said it was in the national interest that natural erosion should continue, and that this outweighed Mr England’s human rights.

But independent inspector Kenneth Smith reported to Defra that, contrary to Natural England’s insistence, the site’s special scientific interest was better served by protecting it against erosion than by allowing it to be destroyed.

He also decided that Natural England’s plans to force erosion on the occupiers would constitute an “unnecessary and disproportionate interference” with human rights.

His report has been accepted by environment secretary David Miliband, who has directed Natural England to issue a consent to recharge and maintain the part of the so-called “soft” sea defence in front of Mr England’s property. Mr England’s solicitor, Peter Scott, said: “This is a ground-breaking decision. It shows that Natural England are likely to be unable, through the creation of SSSIs, to force people to lose their properties to coastal erosion without paying compensation. This is a very significant development in a long-running campaign to save Easton Bavents from being destroyed by the North Sea”. Natural England was not available for comment.

Story by Jon Welch in the EDP