Compensation

[Big Fluffy One]

I must say that the latest mootings regarding purchase/leaseback are a huge leap forward.

Is it suggested, however, that the leaseback should only be to the original owners. Could not the LA just take the property into their housing stock?

[Malcolm Kerby]

I totally agree the latest 'mootings' on financial assistance are without doubt the most encouraging possibility we have perhaps ever seen in coast management.

If we look at this summers Consultation on Coastal Change Policy from DEFRA we can see that the purchase and lease back option would be funded by central Government from the Coastal Change Fund therefore there would be no financial penalty for local authorities and council tax would be unaffected. The consultation called upon and encouraged maritime authorities to apply for Pathfinder status that they may access the central pot of money to resolve the intolerable situation which currently exists for homeowners when their property is lost to the sea.

The consultaion also stated quite clearly it was suggesting a two tier approach where everyone who loses property to coastal erosion, irrespective of whether that property is on a coast which had never been defended will qualify for the £6000 (app) demolition and relocation grant. However (and perhaps most importantly) it suggests that a greatly increased amount of financial support via a possible purchase and lease back policy could be considered where losses occur in areas where management policy is changed from 'hold the line' to one of 'no active intervention'. It even left open what valuation (and what percentage of that valuation) should or could be used by the maritime authority in making the offer to purchase and either demolish or lease back.

As someone who has wrestled with this problem for a considerable time and fought tooth and nail for socially just coastal governance in everyones interests I wholeheartedly welcome and support these proposals particularly as they are very much in line with the path that Norman Lamb (without whom I doubt we would be where we are today) and myself were pursuing when we made a presentation to the DEFRA Adaptation Board in April 2008.

The Consultaion on Coastal Change Policy and all that it suggests or recommends is very much the end product of the deliberations of the Adaptation Board over the previous 18 months. I am pleased to say that having been invited to contribute (without constraint) at the various meetings and workshops of that Board throughout that period I am pleasantly suprised at the breadth and depth of possible change proposed in the consultation.

In more recent days Lord Smith(Chairman of the Environment Agency) has publicly thrown his support behind what we have been calling for to establish Social Justice in managing the coast.

It is hoped we will hear before Christmas whether the Pathfinder bid from North Norfolk District Council (and whether any,some or all of the 20 bids from around the Country) is accepted.

[Malcolm Kerby]

My apologies oh Big Fluffy One I failed miserably to address your point on whom lease back will apply to.

The intention is to purchase and offer lease back to the owner from whom it was purchased however if that owner would prefer to take the offer and reinvest it in a home elsewhere that would be perfectly acceptable.

The Local Authority may then do what they will with the property.

Again my apologies and hope i have now covered all of your points

[Big Fluffy One]

Then if that position is adopted you will have finally gained what this central England city dweller would be happy to call natural justice.