Surrender the coast?

Deborah McGurran Political Editor, Politics Show East

A report by a government body has proposed, as one of four policy options, the prospect of 25 square miles of Norfolk surrendered to the sea.

Houses would be destroyed as well as local shops, pubs, village and landscape.

Storms in 1953 and 1978 caused erosion at Happisburgh

Under present legislation there would be no compensation.

This is the situation facing those who live on the north east coast of Norfolk, where the sea is rising and the coast continuing to erode.

At a recent meeting between Natural England, the Environment Agency, Norfolk County Council and the Norfolk Broad Authority, there was general agreement that the outlook was grim for those living on the seaward side of the Broads.

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Malcolm Kerby, the coordinator of the Coastal Concern Action Group which is trying to save the North Norfolk village of Happisburgh from collapsing into the sea gives his view...

One major problem with all such reports is the lack of consultation prior to and throughout their creation Malcolm Kerby, Coastal Concern Action Group

The Natural England (NE) leaked report has caused much grief and anguish recently.

However, it is but the latest incarnation of the five-year-old English Nature Coastal Habitat Management Plan (CHaMPs).

CHaMPs was reported in the press early in September 2003, so it is not exactly 'hot off the press'.

One major problem with all such reports is the lack of consultation prior to and throughout their creation.

Affected aggrieved

Those most affected by them only get to know of them once they are completed and in the public domain, then they become difficult to either amend or withdraw.

Thus those most affected feel, understandably, that they are presented with a done deal.

Of course, another problem is the complete lack of due care and understanding by central government and its quangos.

A report like this has an immediate affect on people's lives and their communities, whatever the timeframe for abandonment of coast protection/defences.

Erosion is bringing the cliff tops nearer and nearer to houses.

At a stroke, this latest NE report has transferred as many as 1000 homes across 25sq miles of northeast Norfolk from freehold to 50-year leasehold properties.

That has an immediate dramatic and catastrophic effect on their open market value and saleability.

It locks communities and individuals into a seemingly ever-downward spiral.

If we are to believe the damage limitation exercise currently being undertaken by NE and government then should we accept that this report was indeed a purely academic exercise?

We are supposed to accept that it was designed to understand better our preparedness or otherwise for a handful of people's predictions of the possible effects of climate change on the coast.

Money wasted?

If that is the case then it begs the question, why are we wasting tens of thousands of pounds of public money on such academic reports?

Money, which could surely be better spent on defending homes, businesses and agricultural land.

The sea continues to wash away the cliffs.

Naturally, if we lived in a socially just society which took account of the fact that the wider nation contributes to global warming and climate change, then surely the wider nation would share the burden of cost and not expect only those living and working in the 'front line' to bear all of the costs of adapting to climate change.

It remains a major anomaly in our so-called management of the coast that flora and fauna receive 100% compensation when displaced, yet people receive nothing.

Many people may be surprised to learn that if government decides to discontinue coast defences there is no financial cost to government itself.

Under current governance, all of the costs are borne by local individuals and communities.

The danger is that any incentive to cease defending is extremely attractive to central government and its quangos irrespective of its effect on coastal process or people.

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The Politics Show East

The Politics Show with Jon Sopel and Etholle George on Sunday 11 May 2008 at 1200 BST on BBC One.

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