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
More than 5,000 waterside homes in England could be forced to open up to ramblers under new laws being considered by MPs.
The move is part of a plan to create a 2,500-mile coastal path around England, one of the central planks of the draft Marine Bill currently undergoing parliamentary scrutiny.
Homeowners’ groups fear that the plans could devalue their homes by up to 20 per cent and they are determined to fight them.
Under the Countryside Rights of Way Act, which came into force in 2001 and opened up moorland, mountains and downs, the sanctity of private land is safeguarded. But Natural England, the Government’s landscape advisers, disclosed to MPs last week that it would seek to scrap the provision to ensure walkers would not be forced to divert inland from the coast.
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While the Government has earmarked £50 million for the path scheme over the next ten years, no money has been put aside to compensate landowners.
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Natural England said rural property owners would “just have to trust them” on being fair in how it went about drawing up the coastal path.
But Sir Henry added: “It is impossible to trust Natural England on this after it has repeatedly said the new right would not affect private gardens.”
Read the full story by Aislinn Simpson on the Telegraph website similar story on the Times website
Large swathes of Norfolk, including six villages, could be flooded under a controversial plan to deal with the effects of climate change. The proposal would see Britain effectively admit defeat in the battle to maintain coastal defences and around 16,000 acres (25 square miles) of land in the Norfolk Broads would be allowed to flood.
Read the full story by Nick Allen on the Telegraph website
Coastal home owners have won a landmark ruling against a Government agency which was attempting to force them to abandon their homes to the sea.
Charlie England, an artist who lives on an eroding cliff at Easton Bavents, north of Southwold, in Suffolk, has won an appeal against Natural England which refused to allow him to maintain sea defences protecting his property.
An inspector decided that Natural England’s plans to force erosion on the occupiers of properties on the cliff would have constituted an unnecessary and disproportionate interference with their human rights.
Read the full story by Charles Clover, Environment Editor on the Telegraph website
