Funding fears for Heacham to Snettisham shingle ridge

Environment Agency officials have warned it may have to rethink its maintenance of the shingle ridge that acts as a defence for a large stretch of land between Heacham and Snettisham.

It has said a beach recharge - which involves replacing thousands of tonnes of sand and shingle - will no longer go ahead, in part due to the cost of the project.

A sign in place along the sea defences at Heacham (Image: Chris Bishop)

It has prompted concerns among West Norfolk Council members the area could face a similar fate as Hemsby in the east after it was refused government funding for its sea defences, leaving people living there with the prospect they may lose their homes to erosion in the immediate future.

Staurt Dark, leader of the Conservative opposition group at West Norfolk Council (Image: Newsquest)

 In a motion to the council, Stuart Dark, Conservative opposition leader, urged the authority to press the Environment Agency to secure funding to protect this stretch of coastline, arguing that costs should not be a reason for a "managed retreat".

"This should be a no-go for us," he said.

Labour leader Charles Joyce echoed these concerns.

He said: "If these sea defences go you're going to be taking bodies out of trees and that is not something to look forward to."

READ MORE: Norfolk holiday homes could be moved amid shingle bank fears

But members of the ruling Independent group claimed Mr Dark was stoking up fears for political point scoring and there needed to be realistic planning for the future.

Sandra Squire, cabinet member for environment and coastal (Image: Norfolk Independent Group)

Sandra Squire, cabinet member for Environment and Coastal, said she is in constant dialogue with the Environment Agency and other agencies and that Mr Dark's insinuation the council is "abandoning our coastlines" was offensive. 

West Norfolk Council is to scrutinise the future approach to managing the coastline which will follow a technical review by coastal engineers.

READ MORE: Hemsby refused government funding for sea defences

The low-lying coastline between Heacham and Snettisham is prone to flooding (Image: Chris Bishop)

HOLD THE FRONTLINE

Under the current shoreline management plan, the EA said it would "hold the frontline", meaning it would maintain existing sea defences until at least 2025.

The review comes after evidence suggested the shingle ridge is being pushed inland, with the results expected next spring.

It is thought locals could be contributing to the problem by moving shingles, potentially weakening the ridge.

Leader of West Norfolk Council Terry Parish said: “There is no doubt that this is a complex situation which needs to be examined by council officers and members of the council’s Environment and Community panel.

"It will take some time to undertake a thorough review which considers all the data and the views of the experts and enables us to evaluate the costs and implications of any options or proposals."

READ MORE: Villagers shrug off flooding fears along shingle ridge

Tests are under way along the shingle ridge which protects thousands of caravans and other properties (Image: Chris Bishop)Holding the line - material being moved back up the beach to strengthen the shingle bank (Image: Matthew Usher)

Recharging the shingle ridge would cost millions - something which was due in the next few years.

There is speculation the agency may withdraw from its commitment to maintaining the sea defences if it finds a "trigger point" has been reached and it is no longer viable to maintain the shingle ridge.

This could lead to "large-scale land use adaptation" which may require moving many of the area's caravan sites out of the flood zone.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said: “£9.4m has been invested in coastal flood risk management projects in Norfolk this year alone.

“We are continuing to undertake the annual beach recycling project along the North West Norfolk coast between Heacham and Snettisham, this will take place in February/March as usual.

"No decision has been made on the future direction of shoreline management on this section of the Norfolk coast and we await the outputs of the trigger level assessment to inform this decision if it is indeed required."

A number of properties sit close to the shoreline between Heacham and Snettisham (Image: Chris Bishop)

'A BRUTAL DECISION'

The prospect of losing sea defences is a touchy subject in this part of the county.

Memories of the devastating 1953 floods still live in the minds of some in the area, which killed 66 people living along the low-lying coastline inland from The Wash between Hunstanton and King's Lynn. 

But according to climate experts from the University of East Anglia, the reality is that decisions on coastal defence spending must be based on "cost-benefit analysis" based on balancing the number of properties a defence may protect with the costs. 

Caravans protected by the shingle ridge (Image: Chris Bishop)

Professor Robert Nicholls, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, said: "It can be a crude and brutal decision, but while we can build defences, sometimes it doesn't make sense financially.

"Many of the defences built after the 1953 floods are coming up for renewal. This will be something local authorities across the country will be dealing with in the coming years and in some places, it will require a transition from 'holding the line' to managed interventions."