A12 emergency coastal defence works under way

Stakeholders hope the emergency work will protect the area until a planned flood management project

Emergency coastal defence work to protect a major road and prevent future flooding is under way.

Flood defences near the A12 at Benacre sluice, near Lowestoft, Suffolk, are close to being breached, with 37 homes and farmland also at risk.

Six thousand tonnes of rock have been brought in by barge to shore up the area.

The work by the Environment Agency is to safeguard the area until a planned flood management project in the autumn.

The Environment Agency said the final cost of the emergency works was not yet confirmed but was expected to be several million pounds.

If the current flood barrier failed, there is a risk the A12 could flood twice a day at high tide, sometimes to depths of 4ft (1.2m).

Giles Bloomfield said if the current barrier failed the A12 could flood twice a day, making it impassable for hours

Giles Bloomfield, project development manager for the Water Management Alliance, said: "It would be completely impassable for many hours a day, twice a day."

Without the emergency work, if the barrier failed, "the sea would burst through and flood many hundreds of hectares of farmland" affecting food security, Mr Bloomfield said.

He also said important natural habitats for birds, people, property and tourist infrastructure would be at risk, making the emergency work critical.

Edward Vere Nicoll hopes the emergency work will protect the sluice until a planned flood management project

Edward Vere Nicoll, of Benacre Estate, said: "This should protect the sluice for the time being and we can manage it from there.

"There's enough rock here that will hopefully hold this line for as long as it needs to be and we won't have to do quite so much work.

"We can't hold this for too much longer and within a couple of years the sluice will disappear. The sluice is part of critical infrastructure like the A12 is. It has to be moved back."

Each boulder weighs between three to five tonnes

The planned flood realignment project would involve building clay flood banks further inland.

However, the main stakeholders for the project say it currently faces a £25m funding shortfall.

If the funding issue is fixed, on site work is expected to begin in the autumn, with construction of the banks beginning in spring 2025.

In a joint statement, the Environment Agency, Water Management Alliance and Benacre Estate said: "The goal is for these protections to remain effective until the primary scheme is activated; however, the erratic nature of the North Sea preludes any guarantees."

They said the project was actively speaking to Suffolk County Council, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and Sizewell to bridge this financial gap.

The rocks were brought in by a barge

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