Tom Levitt, MSN Environment Editor

Coastal Flooding: seaside communities face fight for survival

Protestors in Southwold during Gordon Brown's summer holiday in the seaside town (PA Photos)

On a clear, calm and sunny day it is difficult to see what worries Andrew Blois and other residents around the Blyth Estuary on the Suffolk coast.

The tide is lapping quietly on the pebbled seashore and the River Blyth is flowing calmly through the harbour. But only a year ago the scene was very different. A major storm surge had seen sea levels rise by nearly 9ft and overrun flood defences.

Property around the harbour was damaged, a footpath across the estuary was washed away and much of the surrounding farmland was submerged together with the A12, the main road through the area.

It marked a turning point for local residents. With climate change scientists predicting rising sea levels and more frequent storm surges either flood defences would need be improved or coastal communities like Blyth will be at risk of disappearing altogether.

Coastal sea defences need upgrading in some places to protect against rising sea levels and storm surges (PA Photos)

"We’d lose our entire beach and the harbour – it would all become mudflat," said Blyth resident and flood defence campaigner Andrew Blois, who added that the local tourist economy would collapse.

"If we don’t improve the flood defences here it isn’t just the water that will put families out of a home but also the people running the shops, hotels, pubs and other businesses that rely on the tourists continuing to come to visit," he said.

The future of sea defences

In response to the worsening forecasts, the government has committed to increase spending on flood defences from £600m to £800m a year by 2010/11. The Environment Agency, which is responsible for flood defences, has been busy re-assessing the threats facing the UK’s 7,000 miles of coastline.

The Agency is currently working with local authorities to draw up shoreline management plans (SMPs) detailing how they would protect each stretch of coastline from rising sea levels and erosion over the next 100 years.

The Blyth Estuary in Suffolk is one of those coastal communities under threat from coastal erosion and flooding (© Mike Page)

But there is the catch. If the cost of improving the sea defences is not considerably less than the economic cost of what would be flooded then the government will not upgrade them.

"We are looking for a five to one benefit so for every pound we spend we expect to get £5 worth of benefit back," said Helen Wakeham, flood risk advisor at the Environment Agency at the Agency’s annual conference in November.

This has led some campaigners to accuse the government of abandoning coastal communities to the sea. An accusation the government has been quick to dispute.

"We are not pulling out of the sea defences," said David Rooke, head of flood risk at the Environment Agency. "But there are examples of where it is not economic and where it is in the interests of taxpayers to invest elsewhere," he said.

Local protest

Blyth is one of those communities that fears losing out on major flood defence improvements. Local residents led by Andrew Blois have been campaigning strongly, including staging a protest during the prime minister Gordon Brown’s summer holiday trip to Southwold – whose beach and harbour would be at risk from coastal flooding and erosion.

Andrew Blois is one of those Blyth Estuary residents calling for more government funding for flood defences (Tom Levitt/MSN)

Residents have also taken to reinforcing vulnerable sea defences themselves. A group of more 45 volunteers transported 3,000 sandbags to repair sea defences damaged after the heavy floods of last year. The Environment Agency has not objected outright to such local initiative but campaigners said that volunteers and sandbags are no substitute for properly funded defences.

"We’re just trying to protect out livelihoods," said Andrew Blois.

It may not be the water that forces them out of their homes in the end though. There is a chance insurance companies will refuse to cover some properties once the government’s plans for coastal defences become clear.

"Insurance companies are there to protect people against uncertain events but we are at a point where flooding has become a certain risk," Association of British Insurers (ABI) policy advisor Swenja Surminski told delegates at the Environment Agency’s annual conference.

"You will get insurance today but in the future I am not so sure. It is unlikely that everyone will be protected from flooding," said Surminski.

Further Reading

Back to the Coastal Flooding in Britain section

Map: see which towns will be hit first by rising sea levels

Video: a community threatened by the sea

Debate: should we protect whatever the cost?

Q&A: coastal flooding

The Environment Agency’s flood risk maps
Further information on sea-level rises

Association of British Insurers (ABI)

Blyth Estuary Group

Alde and Ore Estuary Group