Strategy ensures sea defences for villages

A new flood and erosion risk strategy from the Environment Agency recommends the current level of coast protection along the frontage should be maintained during the next century.

The cost of holding the shoreline against the sea along the five miles or so is put at 32.4m in the next 20 years.

Competition for funding is tough, but failure to keep the defences at their current strength will lead to 530 properties being put at risk from a one-in-200-year flood by 2029.

That number will increase steeply to 3,204 in a century if nothing is done because of the rising sea level and an increased number and intensity of storms.

James Humphreys, the agency's Solent and South Downs area manager, said: "People who live and work along this stretch of coastline are faced with the real threat of flooding and coastal erosion.

"We have to take a long-term view to manage such risks responsibly."