Coastal erosion 'unavoidable', EA chief warns

Britain faces coastal erosion in coming years

Monday, 18, Aug 2008 12:00

Former Cabinet minister Lord Smith of Finsbury has warned Britain will struggle to defend its coastline in the future.

The Environment Agency (EA) chief the Independent that the east and south coasts are particularly vulnerable to coastal erosion and that prioritising has to take place.

"We are almost certainly not going to be able to defend absolutely every bit of coast – it would simply be an impossible task both in financial terms and engineering terms," he said.

The EA is drawing up projections of where coastal erosion will have the greatest impact for the next 25, 50 and 100 years.

With global warming contributing to rising sea levels and increased incidents of severe weather in Britain, planners are being forced to contemplate accelerated rates of erosion for the most vulnerable parts of the coast.

Lord Smith added: "We know the sea is eating away at the coast in quite a number of places, primarily – but not totally exclusively – on the east and south coasts. It's a particularly huge issue in East Anglia, but in quite a number of other areas as well."

The EA will publish its predictions of where it thinks are most likely to suffer erosion next year. Lord Smith warns that the government, already struggling to fund coastal defences, faces a fraught relationship with the insurance industry over the rehousing of families who have lost their homes.

Insurers have already warned the cost of a major coastal flood could soar by 400 per cent if improvements to existing flood defences are not made soon.

"We need to start having a serious discussion with government about what options can be put in place," he said.

The Association of British Insurers estimates a 40cm rise in sea levels could occur as soon as 2040, putting an extra 130,000 properties at risk of flooding. It wants the government to spend an extra £8 billion over the next 30 years to protect the east coast of England.