Coasts may be "abandonded to sea"

That's according to Lord Smith, the new chairman of the Environment Agency, who says that coastal erosion is the most difficult issue that the Agency have to deal with, but that some parts of the coastline are so badly eroded that they are not worth protecting.


The picture shows part of the Holderness Coast (East Yorkshire), but large parts of Norfolk and Suffolk are under threat as well. Read the full article from the BBC here.

£90 million needed for East Yorkshire sea defences

Just spotted this report in the Yorkshire Post about the need for £90 million to be spent on sea defences to protect towns along the East Coast of Yorkshire. This stretch of coastline is the fastest eroding coastline in W. Europe - at a rate of more than 2m per year in places.

Year 10, 11 and 13 know all about this already, but for those who don't... Much of this stretch of coastline is made of boulder clay, which is softer - and therefore less resistant to erosion - than coastlines elsewhere. This means that homes and livelihoods that have been built on the cliffs are at risk of falling into the sea - and many have already done so.

Sea defences are controversial, because they are expensive to construct and maintain, they are not particularly attractive, and it is often said that they might solve the problem in one place, but make things much worse further along the coastline.

There is another article from the Yorkshire Post here, and clicking on the image above will take you to a gallery of some rather alarming photos that have been sent in by readers.