Rural homes and businesses saved from the sea – CLA wins on Norfolk Broads debate

The CLA today won a victory for common sense with the announcement that Natural England has dropped proposals to surrender the Norfolk Broads to the sea.

Natural England accepted that surrendering agricultural land and rural homes was a non starter.

The CLA has been involved in the debate from the start and has always opposed the plan to withdraw maintenance from sea defences allowing a significant area of the Norfolk Broads to flood. The CLA organised a visit to the area with the head of Defra's flood management division and hosted a high-level meeting at its London headquarters to discuss the proposals.

CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: "We are delighted that Natural England has decided to abandon this terrible plan to flood thousands of acres of the Norfolk Broads. Hundreds of homes and businesses have now been saved from the sea.

"The proposal would have resulted in the breaching of some 15 miles of coastal defence with a loss of up to 25 square miles of land which includes valuable farmland as well as six villages.

"Our argument has always been to protect a precious resource – our land. It is simply barmy to flood large areas of the country when future food security, against the background of climate change, is such an issue.

"As 57 percent of this country's Grade One agricultural land is less than 5 metres above sea level, the sensible thing to do is to at least maintain sea defences and ensure farmland, businesses and residences are kept intact. To do anything else is simply irresponsible."

The CLA is part of the Defra sponsored project 'Managing Coastal Change' which works with landowners to find solutions in East Anglia.

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For further information and interviews:

Phillippa Coates, Press Officer, 020 7460 7934, phillippa.coates@cla.org.uk

Oliver Wilson, Director of Communications, 020 7460 7936 or 07702 928828, ollie.wilson@cla.org.uk,

Out of hours: 020 7201 9511.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The report, including an executive summary, is now available on the Natural England website at http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/regions/east_of_england/ourwork/climatechangeproject.aspx

2. Natural England's draft report stated: 'The increasingly unsustainable nature of the Horsey to Winterton frontage beyond the next 20-50 years opens up the possibility of realigning the coast as described within this time frame. It can be argued that by selecting a radical option now the right message about the scale and severity of the impacts of climate change is delivered to the public'.

3. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has a 36,000-strong membership. 

4. As a membership organisation, the CLA supports landowners by advising them on how best to protect and maximise their asset: the land. We are dedicated to supporting landowners and our success is measured by how effectively we do that. We have a team of experts in London and a regional structure able to give local support. We have been looking after the interests of our members, as well as promoting the positive aspects of land ownership and land management, for the past 100 years. CLA members own or manage approximately half the rural land in England and Wales, and the resulting expertise puts us in a unique position to formulate policies and lobby effectively.

5. For more information about the CLA, visit: www.cla.org.uk