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Sussex Business News - Business News For East And West Sussex
Sussex Business News - Business News For East And West Sussex
30/11/09 £250,000 Grand - Help to deal with changing coastlines
Support for coastal communities in adapting to coastal change was announced when the government awarded £11 million in grants to fifteen local authorities, including East Sussex, who had come up with the best and most innovative ideas for dealing with and adapting to coastal change.
The communities and businesses around the Cuckmere Estuary will benefit from a £250,000 grant, announced by Defra, to help adapt to the coastal change. Projects planned include adaptation schemes, detailed community engagement and studies to gather historic, economic, visitor and landscape information. The grant will pay for all these schemes to be put in place.
Each winning local authority 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, where properties are at risk, developing of ‘buy to let’ schemes and the purchase of land to rebuild properties at risk.
Erosion already affects 30 per cent of the English coastline and other areas are at risk of flooding – risks that can only be exacerbated by the threat of climate change.
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, said: “Our coastline has always been shaped by the sea and as climate change takes hold the risk of coastal change will only increase. 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 and with this funding they will be able to work together, to better prepare their people and businesses by adapting to local change.”
South East Regional Minister Jonathan Shaw said: "I am pleased today's announcement of coastal change pathfinders sees more than £1m of funds going to the four successful South East bids of Hastings, East Sussex, Chichester and Hampshire. These areas will pilot innovative ideas on how communities can plan and adapt to coastal change.”
In June 2009 local authorities living with the threat of coastal change were invited to enter the Coastal Change Pathfinder competition and come up with their own schemes to deal with the problems it caused in their area. The grants will be used by local authorities to explore and test their own ideas of adaptation thus making each community more resilient and ready to face changes.
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