RURAL communities are being granted £11m to deal with England's changing coastline.

Government funding will go to 15 local authorities who submitted innovative ideas for adapting to coastal change.

The winning local authorities come from around the English coast – from Sefton in the north-west, to East Sussex in the south-east.

Each has come up with their own “pathfinder” scheme to work with communities and find ways of dealing with a changing coastline.

Projects range from creating new sand dunes and building boardwalks to the purchase of land to rebuild properties at risk.

Erosion already affects 30% of England’s coastline. Many other areas are at risk of flooding.

These risks likely to be exacerbated by climate change.

Rural affairs secretary Hilary Benn said the risk of coastal change would only increase as climate change took hold.

“That is why we need to help our coastal communities to adapt to this change.

“No one can know or understand what these communities need better than the communities themselves.

“With this funding they will be able to work together, to better prepare their people and businesses by adapting to local change.”

The funding was awarded after local authorities under threat of coastal change entered the Coastal Change Pathfinder competition.

Authorities were asked to come up with their own schemes to deal with the problems caused by coastal change in their area.

The Commission for Rural Communities said coastal communities faced the loss of homes, infrastructure and services from erosion and flooding.

The programme would provide valuable funding for communities to invest in the solutions that are much needed, said a spokesman.

“We will be working with Defra to ensure that the lessons and good practice gained from the programme is shared and accessible to all communities affected by similar challenges.”

The pathfinder programme will run until spring 2011.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form