Funding to help homes threatened by erosion

The £1.6m has come from the Environment Agency's resilient coast fund

Funding has been secured to help home owners threatened by coastal erosion.

The Environment Agency (EA) gave £1.6m to Great Yarmouth Borough Council, in Norfolk, to develop plans for people living in Hemsby and Winterton-on-Sea.

The funding would allow the council to buy planning rights for owners of properties at immediate risk to allow them to relocate, under one suggestion due to be made at a council meeting on 15 July.

Conservative councillor Carl Smith said the east Norfolk coast was "on the front line of erosion and the effects of climate change".

Research showed the "huge" defence structures needed in Hemsby would lead to its beach being "vastly reduced in size", according to Smith.

This meant the council needed to get creative to "adapt to the inevitable", he added.

Two exceptionally high tides led to several metres of land being washed away in Hemsby in December.

In the same month in 2023, five clifftop homes were demolished as they faced being swept away by waves.

Carl Smith said the council had been given a "unique opportunity" thanks to the funding

Smith said: "This funding would provide us with a unique opportunity to test and realise meaningful adaptation in Hemsby, including financially supporting and safely relocating residents at very high risk of coastal erosion.

"It would also mean we would retain the borough's net housing stock by seeking planning permission to purchase relocation land."

He said the proceeds of any house sales on a redevelopment site would be reinvested in both supporting residents and purchasing more land.

The EA funding came after the dissolution of Coastal Partnership East in January.

The organisation was broken up after each local authority involved decided it could better tackle the threat of climate change individually.