A campaigner fighting for the right to maintain sea defences in front of a small community of clifftop homes will have to wait for a judge’s ruling.

Peter Boggis, 77, of Easton Bavents, near Southwold, has been at the High Court, in London, this week to challenge Natural England’s plans to allow erosion of the cliffs for scientific reasons.

Mr Justice Blair has now reserved judgment on the case, meaning there will be no immediate ruling. (more…)

You could call him a latter-day Canute: like the legendary Danish king of England, Peter Boggis is bidding the North Sea to retreat.

But while the Viking monarch tried to stop the incoming waves to show fawning courtiers that even the power of kings had its limitations, Mr Boggis is deadly serious. Those same waves are rapidly eroding the cliffs in front of his home in Easton Bavents, near Southwold in Suffolk, and since the Second World War have claimed 14 of the 28 houses that made up the small seaside community. His own home is now only 80 metres from the cliff edge, which is getting closer every year. (more…)

Natural England has defended its right to allow the sea to erode cliffs for scientific reasons, even though people’s homes are at risk.

The statutory body responsible for looking after wild plants, animals and the natural features of England was under attack at the High Court in London because it wants fossil-bearing cliffs on the north Suffolk coast to be allowed to wear away, exposing stratas of soil and rock for study.

Retired engineer Peter Boggis, aged 77, who lives on the clifftop at The Warren, Easton Bavents, near Southwold, accused the body of acting outside its statutory powers when it notified the cliffs as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 2006, protecting the erosion process. (more…)

Peter Boggis, aged 77, built his own costal defences to prevent erosion and save his home and those of his neighbours in north Suffolk.

But Natural England, the body previously known as English Nature, wants the fossil-bearing cliffs on which the houses stand to wear away, exposing strata of soil and rock for study.

In 2006, it declared the area a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Mr Boggis was banned from maintaining his “soft sea defences”.

The barrier initially consisted of 250,000 tonnes of compacted clay soils Mr Boggis had brought in to protect 14 homes at Easton Bavents, near Southwold.

It has now been eroded to around 50,000 tonnes of soil and the homes run the risk of eventually slipping into the North Sea.

Yesterday , Mr Boggis took his battle to save his home to the High Court, arguing that Natural England was acting outside of its powers by creating the SSSI. (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. (more…)