Coastal Erosion

[Guest]

Not about work at all......I live in a village in West Sussex on the coast. The Environment Agency has published a consultation document recently saying that it can no longer protect the coast in the same way as it has done historically, as with global warming it will become too costly. Some of their suggestions mean that land around the village will begin to erode as sea walls may not be maintained (this would leave some homes at risk of falling into the sea). Another area where a shingle bank has been renewed on an ongoing basis will eventually be left. The impact of this could be 600 hectares of land being flooded and turned into salt marsh. Everyone is very worried because more than 1000 homes are at risk and there will be no compensation for homes and businesses lost or damaged. At a recent meeting the environment agency even said that if your house does fall into the sea, you are liable to pay the clear up costs!

 

Are there other members who are being affected by such problems? Are any lobbying organisations being set up near you? I am keen to find out what's happening countrywide, as it seems unlikely that we are the only community facing such a situation.

 

AOB

[Guest sqpeg]

oh gosh thats a horrible worry; no care for others. Are there any heritage sites or creatures that could be brought up as a 'stop the flood' or else this will be lost; as the government dont care about every day folk?

I live on a salt marsh and only last autumn did the 'government contractors' finish the sea defences for Whitstable. I do not know the politics of it however this area is known for flooding and high seas - I dont know why we have been saved. Im sorry I took this for granted; that we would be kept from the sea can't imagine if we'd been left to it.

sqpeg

[Sue R]

Confess, I've only 'read', but I'm horrified that the PTB (my shorthand for the powers that be!) can just write anyone near the coast off - just like that - - where will it all end??? They're already writing off pensions people have paid into for 30 or more years, so , hey!! why not write all responsibity off!!

 

Sorry, bitter personal situation invading there, but I still feel it's totally wrong to 'write off' people who happen to live in one place rather than another, we've all paid taxes etc.!??

 

Sue (maybe I should slink away and adopt an alias??)

[hali]

it is an absoluty awful situation personaoly not affected but do feel for thise that are ..just terrible

[Running Bunny]

It's a difficult one this- I remember studying this in A Level Geography and going to Dunwich, near my home town on Ipswich, where the whole village fell into the sea years ago and it is rumoured that you can hear the church bells ringing in a storm...

 

The trouble with sea defences is that as soon as you put them in one area you push the problem further down the coast. Shingle is rubbish as it costs a fortune to transport and dump then gets washed away. Permenant defences such as walls also cost a packet and are unsightly, but ultimately do the job.

 

I hope that you can find a solution that saves as many houses as possible but works with the environment at the same time.

[Guest]

I agree Running Bunny, we do need something that works with the environment and with sea level rise it's a hard one to fathom out. I am sure there must be other communities who will be facing the same situation as mine and think that MPs with coastal constituencies need to get together to think this thing through and come up with some ideas. At the moment it seems as though many people could loose their homes and livelihoods and there is no plan to compensate them in any way. All a bit scary when you're close to the edge. Theoretically my home should be ok, but if sea defences are abandonned, who knows. I have friends who have been told their homes may fall in within the next 5 years......

AOB

[Guest]

I feel really guilty as I know the local council near me, (Bournemouth) are spending over a million on dredging up sand from out in the bay and putting it on the beaches so that the beaches are higher and reach out further. I presumed that this was to counteract erosion of the beaches but feel that this may be purely cosmetic as the town relies on the reputation of it's beaches for the tourist trade.

 

I would not like to be in your position and can only say that people need to unite and voice their fears, lobby government etc.

 

Teri

[Guest]

Thanks for the support Teri, along with a few others I helped organise a public meeting yesterday. It was attended by over 350 people and we managed to start a fighting fund of £525, which a local business has offered to match. I feel quite charged up and not so on the ball with what I'm doing in class this week It'll be interesting to see what happens from here on in!

AOB

[JacquieL]

What a trerrble situation to be in. I remember watching a programme about houses falling into the sea as part of our shores are eroding, and yet other areas are building up and the sea is retreating from those. These ppor people were living up to the very last in their homes but eventually they fell. They had no compensation- surely this needs to go the the European Pariament for some sort of compensation scheme. After all if it were farmers and set-aside, or bird flu, there would be pay offs! I think that this is going to become a major issue when sea levels rise, because such a lot of our land will be lost to the sea- very large areas. Did you watch the Attenborough programme on global warming- it was very very interesting. That showed how sea defences built around the Thames estuary would move water up and down the coast, and the amount of land lost to the sea will be enormous.

Good luck with your public meetings as I think that this is just the beginning.

[Guest]

Hi everyone. If anyone is feeling motivated to do some lobbying, I'd be hugely grateful if loads of you would fill in the petition that has just been started on coastal erosion on the government's petition site. Here's the link. This hasn't come directly from my group, but we're slightly concerned that if it doesn't reach a wide audience the powers that be will get the impression that no-one cares. The latest news from my village is that a 40ft section of sea wall, supposed to be sound according to the engineers from the County Council began to collapse on 1st March. I helped man a stand at a public consultation on Saturday and met a young couple who have two small children. Their house is very close to the top of the sea wall. They have been told to pack a bag. With the full moon we have big tides and predictions of stormy weather. The wall should be getting some emergency repairs next week, but meanwhile continues to be battered at every high tide. These people have a bag packed in the hallway ready to evacuate. We said to the engineers at the end of the meeting that we were going down to the beach to have a look, because it was low tide. We were told to be very careful and not to go close to the wall as 'it could collapse at any time. If you have a moment, please sign up to this link. Thanks so much everyone. AOB

 

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/coastline-rescue/

[Sue R]

Well, I've signed, for one!

 

Sue

[Guest]

Thank you Sue. Is there anything I could do to make this more prominent on here so that more people see it. I have a feeling that when I posted it didn't come up on the home page......Maybe there's something I don't know how to do..... I haven't noticed that before

 

AOB

[Beau]

Topics from the 'Lounge' part of the forum don't appear on the homepage I'm afraid AOB.

[Running Bunny]

I'll be signing....

 

I was at Felixstowe at the weekend for a bracing walk along the prom with my hubby... well, I would have walked along the prom if the sea wasn't so high that it was covering it every time the waves crashed in. I know it was a full moon, so the tides would have been higher, but what was once a beach (albeit a shingley one) was covered in massive boulders up to the edge of the prom, all the sea defence gates were closed and the gardens that run parallel to the prom and the main road were all flooded.

 

In over 20 years of going to the seaside in East Anglia at all times of the year I have NEVER seen it like that - now tell me that global warming isn't having an impact?

 

Good luck with your campaign, by the way!

[Guest]

Thanks Running Bunny, must check up and see how the petition is going it was getting close to 300 last time I looked and was only around 100 when I started this thread. Please pass on the news to anyone you know who may be interested. I'm sure you're right that this is us really becoming part of global warming. We are all concerned on an island and need people to lobby for fair and sensible solutions.

 

AOB