East coast towns will be ‘given up to the sea’

SMALL communities along 90 miles of English coastline should be left to fall into the sea, according to Government advisers, as they cannot be saved from climate change.

Small towns along England’s east coast were likely to be abandoned to rising sea levels within the lifetime of the children living there today, said the Committee on Climate Change.

Sea levels could rise by more than 3ft by 2080, which would bring flooding for coastal residents, as well as 1,000 miles of major roads, 400 miles of railway line and 55 legacy landfill sites.

The warning of “tough choices” ahead for coastal communities emerged in a report that showed the cost of keeping the sea at bay would outweigh the benefit of saving small towns or low-grade farmland.

It could cost up to £30 billion to shore up the defences of the 1.2million homes at risk of being submerged or washed away as sea levels rise. For some communities the eye-watering price to keep rising waters at bay would not be a Government investment worth making, the climate experts said.

“It’s time people woke up to the very real challenges ahead,” said Prof Jim Hall, the committee’s adaptation expert.

He said the “complex patchwork” of local council plans and legislation were “optimistic” and would not be enough to save many communities that wrongly assume that they are protected. In addition, house prices did not fully reflect the risk to which many homeowners were exposed, meaning property prices in affected areas could slump.

Instead, the committee said realistic plans needed to be made to manage a retreat from areas that would not be able to justify funding a rescue.

“The Government and local authorities need to talk honestly with those affected about the difficult choices they face. Climate change is not going away: action is needed now to improve the way England’s coasts are managed today and in the future,” he said.

The committee declined to comment on which areas would fall within the 90 miles of ill-fated coast. However, areas most at risk of flooding and erosion lie along Kent, East Anglia and parts of Devon.

The teetering cliff-top homes in the small Norfolk towns of Hemsby and Happisburgh are already uninhabitable despite Government spending of around £260 million across England every year to keep the waves at bay. The doomed towns are likely to follow the plight of the coastal village in Fairbourne in Wales, which has already been earmarked as a place that should be abandoned to the sea.

Its 1,000 residents were stunned by a report that recommended that the village be “decommissioned”. That shock report triggered plummeting property prices and the threat of legal action by residents against its authors.