Government
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (#Defra) is the Government organisation with responsibility for coast management. It has a National flood and coastal erosion plan.
District
#East Suffolk District Council is the coast protection authority, and It has powers under the Coast Protection Act 1949 to carry out coastal protection works. The Environment Agency has a supervisory role with respect to both sea defence and coast protection. There are other important stakeholders such as Natural England, with their advisory role on nature conservation, Suffolk County Council, English Heritage and the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Unit.
There are 3 shoreline management plans ( SMP ) for Suffolk which present policies drawn from the following options:
No Active Intervention (NAI)
Advance the Line (ATL)
Hold the Line (HTL)
Managed Realignment (MR
SMP 7 Lowestoft Ness to Landguard Point
SMP for the Suffolk coast south of Lowestoft Ness to Felixstowe was produced in 1998 and reviewed in 2010. East Suffolk is the lead authority.
Coastal partnership formed
On 10 June 2016, experts were drawn from 3 local authorities (Gt Yarmouth, North Norfolk, and East Suffolk) to form Coastal Partnership East. It is responsible for 92km of the 173km coastline from Holkam Norfolk to Languard Point, Felixstowe. The partnership says that there are about 352k people who live in the direct coastal zone, and with many more who work there or visit. Due to the pandemic and increased erosion due to climate change and sea-level rise, East Suffolk Council is now undertaking an Options Appraisal Study to review new evidence and data and determine if the proposed strategy options remain appropriate.
Between 3pm -7.30pm Thursday 28 April at Corton Community Hall, Coastal Partnership East - the coastal management team for East Suffolk Council – will begin the first step in engaging with Gunton and Corton residents about the future options for managing continuing erosion. Cllr David Ritchie is the ESC cabinet member for Planning and Coastal management, and Coastal Partnership East can also be found on Facebook.
On FB page Southwold & Reydon Chit Chat 15April 2022, there was discussion of around £10Million planned to be spent by ESC on Southwold Harbour South Pier repairs. This ties in with Defra funds mentioned in links above. ESC has a committee called "Southwold Harbour Management Committee" which will hold it's next meeting at 1600hrs 5 May 2022, at the Stella Peskett Millenium Hall, Southwold.
