The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has announced a £36 million investment to explore innovative approaches of adapting to the effects of coastal erosion.

As part of the Government’s £200 million flood and coast innovation programme, the initial areas of focus of the Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme will be used to help deliver innovative adaptation projects in North Norfolk and East Riding of Yorkshire.

The two locations were chosen because they are already living with the challenges of coastal erosion and between them include 84% of the properties at risk of coastal erosion in England over the next 20 years.

Both local authorities will receive funding to help communities on areas of the coast that cannot sustainably be defended from coastal erosion.

Residents will be supported to prepare and plan for the long term, while also trialling some immediate actions that support the long-term resilience of communities near the coast.

Examples of interventions could include:

• improving and replacing damaged community infrastructure, such as beach access or coastal transport links and replacing public or community owned buildings in areas at risk with removable, modular, or other innovative buildings
• repurposing land in coastal erosion zones for different uses such as temporary car parks and restoring and creating habitats to include green buffer zones
• working with the finance and property sectors to explore innovative finance or funding mechanisms to help move communities from the highest risk areas, for instance schemes to incentivise the relocation of at-risk infrastructure for businesses and homeowners
• developing the local planning system so it supports and facilitates the managed transition of communities from high-risk land and ensuring it restricts future development in areas affected by coastal erosion

The Environment Agency will manage the programme, supporting both areas as they develop and deliver their local projects. It will also ensure that ongoing learning is shared with other areas facing similar challenges.

Floods Minister Rebecca Pow said:

“As climate change brings more extreme weather, we must redouble our efforts to build a more resilient nation. We have ramped up flood and coastal erosion policies, and we will always defend our coastline where it is sustainable and sensible to do so. Where it isn’t we will support communities to adapt.

“What we are announcing today will support innovative solutions to help those areas most vulnerable to coastal erosion to prepare and adapt.”

The programme will run to March 2027, exploring and testing innovative opportunities. Defra said a full evaluation of the programme would help to inform future national policy direction and will add to coastal resilience activity elsewhere, which includes a national coastal erosion risk map providing clearer data about local risks to help local planning, and the ongoing national refresh of existing Shoreline Management Plans.

"As a minimum, we need to plan for at least a metre rise of sea level rise by the end of the century"

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, commented:

“England’s coastline has never been static. Today, 9,000 kilometres of open English coast is at risk from sea flooding, erosion and landslips, and by 2100 once-a-century sea level events are set to become annual events.

“As a minimum, we need to plan for at least a metre rise of sea level rise by the end of the century. In some places the pace and scale of change may be so significant that, over a period of time, coastal authorities will need to help local communities transition away from the current shoreline over time.

“This programme is about providing that local support while increasing the whole country’s expertise and resilience in the face of climate and coastal change.”

The Budget in 2020 provided £200 million to run a flood and coast innovation programme that could explore new approaches to help build resilience to the threat of flood and coastal risk. 

In March 2021, Rebecca Pow announced 25 areas to receive a share of £150 million from the Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme (FCRIP) between 2021 and 2027 to explore and test innovative practical actions to address flooding in their local areas.  

A further £8 million is currently trialling a new approach to strategic long-term adaptive pathways in Thames Estuary, Humber Estuary, Yorkshire and Severn Valley.