New task force to help combat coastal erosion

Councillors abandoned a cross-border partnership to set up a new group focused on battling coastal erosion.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council cabinet members agreed to forge its own task force to try and save Hemsby which has suffered significant erosion on the Norfolk coast.

Leader of the Conservative-led council, Carl Smith, said it needed to deliver "bespoke, innovative and creative solutions at pace" for the area.

The council was previously part of Coastal Partnership East (CPE) with two other councils, but all have agreed to disband the partnership leaving it defunct.

The partnership, which included North Norfolk District Council and East Suffolk Council, aimed to pool resources to protect more than 100 miles of coastline, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

However, the three councils decided they could better tackle the threat of climate change individually.

More than 25 homes at Hemsby - including five cliffside properties last year - have been lost to the sea in the past decade.

"As our residents are all-too aware, being on the frontline of one of Europe's fastest-changing coastlines is increasingly presenting unique and significant challenges," Smith said.

"'The rapid pace of climate change is affecting all of us and, where once CPE was the most appropriate approach, it is now unwieldy and not responsive enough.

"We need to be able to deliver bespoke, innovative and creative solutions at pace as we adapt to erosion locally.

"'We have lobbied long and hard for the government to provide more support and help for the borough.

"Dissolving CPE will empower us to be able to do that even more effectively and with more focus."

Councillors hoped the new coastal management department would improve how they responded to the erosion affecting villages like Hemsby, as well as other places affected, such as Hopton and Scratby.

However, Paul Wells, cabinet member for environment and waste, warned that without public and private investment in sea defences there would be limits to what the council could achieve.

"We have to be realistic," he said.

"This will enable us to push for more resources to tackle coastal erosion but will not be a panacea. We are still like King Canute in these circumstances."

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