National Trust: 12,500 properties may fall into the sea
SOME 12,500 new homes and businesses face being swept into the sea because builders are ignoring planning guidance not to locate them in vulnerable coastal areas in favour of sea views, the National Trust has warned.
The conservation charity said it could no longer “hold the line” and prevent rising sea levels destroying properties and parts of England’s coast.
Over the past 10 years the number of houses and shops at risk from coastal erosion and sea flooding in England has risen 10 per cent from 117,000 to 129,500.
In a report published today, the National Trust calls for urgent action to protect the coastline, saying that some towns should be “defended to the hilt”. But it warned that it would be a “travesty” to surround England with a ring of concrete just to preserve the country’s borders and said some communities would not be saved.
Instead, it suggests taking a more natural approach, allowing managed retreat and moving threatened villages further inland. The trust was founded in 1895 partly to prevent the sprawl of Victorian seaside resorts ruining Britain’s coastlines. It now owns 10 per cent, or 775 miles, of British coastline.
UK sea levels have risen six inches since 1901 and are expected to rise by around a further 3ft by the end of the century, bringing increased coastal erosion and flooding.
Yet, despite the threat, only a third of coastal planning authorities are following up-to-date guidelines.
Phil Dyke, the trust’s coastal marine advisor, said: “We’re still putting new developments at the coast despite guid- ance that warns not to do that. We have tried to fix a line at the coast, but the coast is constantly changing. We can’t hold the line any more.
“There is a real sense of urgency. A child born today is likely to live long enough to see that world with a one-metre sea level rise. The nightmare scenario for me would be to end up with a coast that was rimmed in concrete.”
In the report, the trust calls for a move away from the “ineffective cycle” of building and maintaining engineered sea defences and instead relocate buildings, roads, railways and wildlife habi- tats away from vulnerable areas. Lord Krebs, the chairman of the adaptation sub-committee of the committee on climate change, said: “In order to manage our coasts for the future, including the impacts of climate change, we need to work with the grain of nature and not against it.
“A long-term vision with action to reduce risk and create new habitats for wildlife will protect inland regions from flooding and ensure that future generations can enjoy the coastline as we do today.”
The trust is also calling for local authorities to work together so that one coastal management scheme does not cause problems for neighbouring areas.
Formby in Liverpool is home to rare species such as the natterjack toad, but it is the fastest eroding property in the trust’s care and is expected to lose 400 yards of coastline by the next century.
Kate Martin, the area ranger for Formby, said: “Everything we plan to do at Formby affects our neighbours as their plans affect us. There is a balance to be struck so that people and nature can co-exist.”