'We need a debate' call
By Jon Welch (Eastern Daily Press, 10 April 2008)
The government agencies behind controversial proposals to abandon a large area of the Broads to the sea are being urged to break cover and explain their plans to the public.
Campaigners have called on Natural England and the Environment Agency to come to Norfolk to meet the people who would lose their homes and livelihoods if proposals to surrender 25sq miles of Norfolk were implemented.
North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb and coastal defence campaigner Malcolm Kerby issued the challenge before addressing a public meeting on the issue in Potter Heigham, attended by 400 people.
Mr Lamb said he had already met officials from Natural England, the government's conservation advisers, and the Environment Agency, which is responsible for coastal defences, but added: "I'm very clear that they must engage directly with the public.
"It's absolutely essential that there should be a proper discussion. They must have the opportunity to explain all of their case and all the issues to the public.
"It's important for people to understand what's happening with sea level rises and we must have an informed discussion about this.
"Those agencies need to understand directly from the people concerned - the residents - that their position, and mine, is we hold the line and defend that coastline."
In a letter to the EDP, Natural England said the proposals had been contained in a draft report that would be made available to the public when it had been improved. However, a spokesman was unable to say when that might be.
Mr Lamb has also written to environment secretary Hilary Benn asking him to visit Norfolk to meet local people and hear their concerns.
Mr Kerby, co-ordinator of the Happisburgh-based Coastal Concern Action Group, urged officials to come to Norfolk to meet the people.
"They sit in ivory towers dreaming up some of the most outlandish schemes and ideas without any reference to the people who pay for the strategy and will suffer the consequences. Let them explain themselves," he said.
Last night's meeting at Potter Heigham village hall was the second of three organised by Mr Lamb and Mr Kerby. They said they had not asked Natural England officials to attend because, with feelings running high, they anticipated a hostile reception.
The controversial plan, which would involve the loss of at least six villages, thousands of acres of farmland and some of the county's top wildlife sites, is one of four options outlined for the Upper Thurne area in response to the threat of climate change.
The proposals, first drawn up in 2003, resurfaced in a document discussed behind closed doors at a Natural England-organised conference in Norwich in February.
They would involve allowing the sea to breach coastal defences between Horsey and Winterton, flooding low-lying areas as far inland as Potter Heigham and Stalham, where new sea walls would be built. The document suggests this action could be taken within the next 20 to 50 years.
The other three options were to do nothing and let nature take its course; to hold the line and maintain existing defences; and to adapt the line by moving coastal defences slightly inland.
Last week Environment Agency chief executive Lady Young told the EDP: "We have committed to trying to hold the line for the next 50 years, but after this there are difficult decisions to make."
Gems of the Broads
People, of course, will be the main concern if a plan which could see six villages in the Norfolk Broads surrendered to the sea goes ahead. But along with the 600 homes and other businesses involved, our wildlife and landscape will dramatically change forever. Environment correspondent TARA GREAVES reports.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Half a century is a long time in terms of our turbulent climate.
If you take wildlife, for example, what is here today could be located somewhere else entirely (or not at all) even in a decade's time, depending on the changes that occur as a result of global warming, whether man made or otherwise.
It makes compiling an accurate list of what might be lost if a possible plan to flood 25 square miles of the Broads does go ahead in 20-50 years time difficult in terms of the natural landscape.
And simply taking an inventory of what buildings could fall victim to the sea fails to convey the emotion attached to family homes, businesses built up over the years or historic churches that have seen countless christenings, weddings and funerals.
As first reported in the EDP, the plans, one of four possible courses of action for the Upper Thurne basin, were set out in a secret report by the government's conservation advisers, Natural England, and discussed behind closed doors by officials at a conference in February.
The first option listed is to do nothing to adapt to climate change: to fail to maintain coastal defences and inland flood embankments, allowing them to fall into disrepair and be breached by the River Thurne and the sea.
The second is to hold the line, the current policy of the Environment Agency. This involves maintaining the sea defences and flood embankments in their current positions. Under this option saline intrusion would get worse as sea water passes under the coastal dunes.
The third option is to adapt the line, allow the sea to flood some places while building barriers and embankments to protect other parts.
The fourth, and most radical, is described as the "embayment of the Upper Thurne".
Once the sea has penetrated existing coastal defences between Horsey and Winterton, the area immediately behind would flood as far as two retreated defences at Potter Heigham and Stalham.
Prof Andrew Watkinson, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, based at UEA, said: "In the area we are looking at there is a lot of agricultural land, grazing marsh and some fresh water habitats, which are artificially made themselves.
"In terms of what could go it is not clear because it depends on a number of factors including the rise in sea level, which is incredibly uncertain at the moment and what preparations they make such as whether it is just flooded or they dig channels etc.
"If you broke the barrier now you would get one type of habitat but if you are looking at the end of the century it would clearly be something very different."
In their report Natural England suggested five of the best lakes in the Broads, including Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere, would be lost together with thousands of acres of agricultural land and the habitat of bird species such as bitterns, cranes and marsh harriers.
Brendan Joyce, director of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, said: "Whether we believe in climate change or not, the evidence on this stretch of coast is that a significant impact could potentially occur over a large area of land. We do not currently have the research to tell us exactly what we can do or what we can expect."