Broads village 'could end up at the seaside'
(Eastern Daily Press, 18 April 2005)
Broads villagers have been warned that they could end up living by the seaside if the government lets Norfolk's sea defences crumble.
Campaigners fear planned policy changes and lack of funding could let the sea surge inland, flooding waterways and low-lying land destroying communities, homes and businesses.
Residents at a public meeting near their homes 15 miles inland were told they could become Horning on Sea.
Aod the message comes as the Broads Authority also highlights major concerns about a controversial new Shoreline Management Plan.
Coastal Concerns Action Group co-ordinator Malcolm Kerby, who led the Horning meeting, said the Eccles to Winterton stretch could prove the weak point for the Broads.
Although the SMP planned to protect it for 100 years, there was a "glorious get-out clause" of only doing it if it were fmancially viable.
The group's initial battle to save part of Happisburgh, and council efforts to promote schemes elsewhere along the coast, have all been dogged by years of government refusal to provide any money.
The SMP's general thrust is to abandon many defences to provide a more natural coastline - which Mr Kerby says is "technically and environmentally suspect, and morally bankrupt."
He is also concerned about the "dark secret" of a coastal habitat plan fIrst mooted by English Nature in 2003, which would let the sea swamp an area including Sea Palling, Eccles, Waxham, Horsey, Hickling and Potter Heigham.
"It means that what seemed initially to be a Happisburgh coastal issue six years ago could now be a countywide problem," said Mr Kerby.
The Horning meeting was the ninth in a series. "We don't aim to frighten or worry people - just to get them to understand what the Government is saying," he said.
Horning Parish Council chairman Pamela Masters said the Broads would be lost and become salt marshes if the sea broke through, with lost homes, jobs and wildlife.
She said the 80 people at the meeting were aiming to object to the SMP and felt there was a responsibility to protect the area for future generations.
A meeting of the Broads Authority on Friday will be recommended to raise four major concerns on the SMP.
A report by director of research and strategy Michael Green says the lack of any compensation would cause hardship and was undermining political support.
He points out the current policy to defend Eccles to Yarmouth is not being met, and there is no assurance of future funding.
The closing date for responses on the SMP is April 29.
Information and a response form can be obtained at www.northnorfolk.org/acag/default_smp.html