UK to abandon villages and land to the rising sea
Pastor Dale Morgan
UK to abandon villages and land to the rising sea*
By Melissa Kite and Richard Gray
Last Updated: 1:41am GMT 11/11/2007
Whole villages and swathes of agricultural land will be surrendered to
the sea because the Government is unwilling to spend billions of pounds
on flood defences.
Ministers have admitted privately that they are preparing to evacuate
settlements on the east coast within the next 30 years because it is not
"cost effective" to save them.
A sign for Walcott stands in flood water, Government to abandon villages
and land to the sea#
A Walcott place sign stands in sea water
Thousands of acres of farmland will be allowed to flood, potentially
jeopardising food production in areas such as East Anglia.
Parts of the Norfolk and Suffolk coastline will not be given a penny for
defences because they have been deemed impossible to save, according to
leaked details of the Government's coastal flooding and erosion risk
assessment.
The study, which is being conducted by the Environment Agency and will
report in June next year, uses a points system to decide which parts of
coastline will receive flood defences and which will be abandoned.
The plan comes despite warnings that destructive storm surges are
becoming more frequent with climate change.
Tens of thousands of householders were put on alert last week for one of
the largest tidal surges to strike Britain in 50 years. The threat was
so serious that Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, called two meetings of
Cobra, the emergency cabinet committee which plans responses to national
disasters.
However, a senior government insider told The Sunday Telegraph that the
flood assessment under way at present will lead to some areas of Britain
being sacrificed.
"The decisions we take in Suffolk and Norfolk about areas of coastline
will be about whether or not we can actually save them," the insider
said. "There are some areas where we can build defences but there are
some areas we will have to let go. The question is which areas do we let go?
"There are some areas we would have to build a 100-mile wall at a cost
of billions, but we can't do that. So the fact is because of sea levels
rising there will be some areas that fall into the sea over the next 30
years.
Costs of flood defences to lead to 'abandoned villages and land'
Villages under threat of flooding
"It is very emotive because people want their villages to be saved, but
we would just have to move people out."
The comments will provoke deep anger in the affected communities.
John Gummer, the former environment secretary and MP for Suffolk
Coastal, accused the Government of taking an "immoral" decision.
He said: "We have been defending this coastline for thousands of years
and this is the first government to decide that we will give in. While
Holland is defending every square inch we are intending to give up large
acreage of land which we desperately need for food security as well as
really significant numbers of houses. They are giving up on whole
communities.
"It is immoral not to defend our land today, but to leave it for our
children to defend in 50 years' time."
Pilot plans drawn up for Norfolk and Kent have already earmarked
communities for destruction, including the villages of Overstrand, in
Norfolk, Leysdown-on-Sea, in north-east Kent, and Bawdsey, in Suffolk.
Historical sites such as the Martello towers on the Suffolk coast, which
were built as look-out posts during the Napoleonic Wars, will slip into
the sea.
Other areas will become more vulnerable to flooding, including
Aldeburgh, in Suffolk and Aylesford in Kent, while valuable farmland and
roads near the coast will be lost. In Bawdsey, the withdrawal of
defences will eventually mean 5,000 acres of agricultural land will be
flooded, wells poisoned by salt water and irrigation for more land ruined.
Local people are so desperate that they have begun erecting their own
defences with a charitable trust helping farmers to sell land in order
to fund flood measures.
The Environment Agency has suspended a £25 million protection project in
Somerset, which was due to be completed in 2009.
Residents have warned that Kewstoke, Wick St Lawrence, Sand Bay and
parts of Worle are now at risk. Diana Wrightson, whose Edwardian home
sits about 15 yards from the crumbling cliff edge in Happisburgh,
Norfolk, said she will have to abandon it if another four yards of coast
are lost. Two yards go every year.
She said: "There used to be defences on the beach to keep the sea from
eroding the cliffs, but they are useless now as no money has been spent
on them. The Government has really let us down."
Mr Gummer, head of the Conservative's environmental policy group,
accused ministers of acting politically by diverting flood defence money
inland. "Why are they not pouring money into coastal areas that are
almost predominantly Tory? Meanwhile, they are giving money to river
defences in marginal seats.
"Could it be that there are no votes for them on the coastline which is
almost exclusively Conservative controlled?"
Charles Beardall, the East Anglia area manager at the Environment
Agency, said: "We are not abandoning communities. With the limited
funding we have, we are trying to protect as many people as possible.
This does mean withdrawing protection in rural coastal areas. In East
Anglia there are a small number of properties at risk and we are in
discussions with individuals about how we can find other options for
those areas."
A Defra spokesman said: "Spending on flood and coastal erosion risk
management has nearly doubled in cash terms, from £307 million in
1996-97 to an estimated £600 million in 2007-08. The Government will
further increase spending to £800 million in 2010-11."