MP wants answers over coastal defences
South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon has asked the National Audit Office to look at whether the Environment Agency’s measures to protect the UK’s coastline against erosion and flooding represent good value for money, after learning that the Agency is seeking to flood land in his constituency as part of Norfolk’s coastal defences.
Mr Bacon, a member of the influential Commons public accounts committee, raised the issue with Baroness Young, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, at the committee’s hearing on water resource management in December 2005. At Mr Bacon’s request, Baroness Young supplied an outline of the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) for the Norfolk coast, which is published as part of the public accounts committee’s report into water resource management.
Mr Bacon said today: “I raised this issue as I had earlier discovered land in parts of my constituency – an inland area several miles from the coast – could be earmarked for flooding as part of our coastal defences. The Environment Agency should look at all options for protecting our shoreline, but taxpayers in South Norfolk will rightly expect the existing land area to be defended. I very much doubt the authorities in the Netherlands – a country with many years’ experience in protecting their coastline from the elements – would contemplate such surrender to the sea”.
Early SMPs included policies driven by local politics and public opinion, irrespective of whether they were economically or physically sustainable. The Agency believes that later SMPs may be more sustainable but unpopular, making them equally as difficult to implement.
Mr Bacon added: “The Environment Agency’s response to my queries poses further questions and I believe this matter requires further investigation. I have therefore asked the National Audit Office to consider looking in greater detail at the measures the Environment Agency is taking to protect the UK’s coastline. I have also written to Baroness Young to ask for a more detailed response on this important issue”.
9 May 2006
See also:
PARLIAMENT: Get flood defences into peak condition, says MP
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