Coast communities ‘need’ help

08 November 2006

Means-tested compensation is needed for homeowners forced to relocate as part of managed realignment schemes or the policy will be scuppered, ministers were warned this week.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has estimated that without significantly increased funding, one third of the length of Britain’s coastal defences cannot be maintained in the future.
Given this, it is vital to overcome hurdles to managed realignment schemes, according to a report from the ~Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management~ Allowing the coastline to move backwards in a managed way would allow residents across the country to ‘enjoy economic, environmental and social benefits’. But without compensation for homeowners, schemes will stall.
In North Norfolk campaigners are fighting a proposed second-generation shoreline management plan ‘until social justice is built into it’. But it is thought ministers believe that providing compensation would create a costly precedent, given the rapidly retreating coastline, which would also reward development in precarious locations. The CIWEM agrees universal compensation would be unaffordable and create a perverse market for properties under threat.
But with the likelihood that managed realignment will in future affect populated lowly coastal areas – as opposed to single dwellings or farm buildings affected to date – some form of compensation is needed to make schemes politically possible. Making entitlement means-tested is a possible way forward.
Bob Sargent, president of the CIWEM, said: ‘Climate change hits the vulnerable hardest. We need to develop coastal management policies which help communities to manage their risk.’ The situation where authorities have to provide new homes for displaced birds but not displaced people was not sustainable.
North Norfolk District Council refused to sign the final draft of its local shoreline management plan this summer after managed realignment was retained as a policy despite 2,500 objections.
Malcolm Kerby, spokesman for local campaigners on the Coastal Concern Action Group, said that managed realignment in his area ‘involved absolutely no management’ but was merely abandonment of the coastline.
A Defra spokesman said that defences were provided under permissive powers. ‘If there is no right for defences, there can’t be a right for compensation.’

Register now for full access

Register just once to get unrestricted, real-time coverage of the issues and challenges facing UK transport and highways engineers.

Full website content includes the latest news, exclusive commentary from leading industry figures and detailed topical analysis of the highways, transportation, environment and place-shaping sectors. Use the link below to register your details for full, free access.

Already a registered? Login

Sign In

Coast communities ‘need’ help

order biaxin tablets

buying biaxin

ordering clarithromycin

Register now for full access

Login