Is your coastal home at risk of rising sea levels?

As many as 370,000 homes are at risk of damage from coastal flooding, according to a new report

Government plans to protect coastal communities are ‘not fit for purpose’, according to a leading think tank, and thousands of homes could be lost to coastal erosion as sea levels are set to rise by a metre or more by as early as 2100.

Research from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has found that 520,000 properties in England, 370,000 of which are homes, are at risk of coastal flooding – in fact, 8,900 are at risk of being lost to the sea altogether.

The report from the CCC has found that measures being put forward by the government are not sufficient to stem the tide of sea levels.

In addition to the number of properties currently at risk, the CCC says that by the 2080s, up to 1.5million properties, including 1.2 million homes, could be in areas of flood risk, with 100,000 homes at risk of coastal erosion.

Key areas the report highlights include East Anglia, the southeast coast and east Yorkshire.

A ticking time bomb for coastal buildings

The government has committed £1.2bn of investment over the next six years to protect against coastal erosion and homes at risk of sea flooding, but the CCC says that it is simply not affordable to build defences in many of the areas at risk and instead the government needs to face some difficult conversations with people who currently live in coastal communities.

Professor Jim Hall, the CCC Adaptation Committee’s expert on flooding and coastal erosion, said: “As the climate changes, the current approach to protecting the English coastline is not fit for purpose. It’s time people woke up to the very real challenges ahead.

“As sea levels rise and flooding and erosion get worse, we have assessed that current plans for around 150 kilometres, or 90 miles, of the coastline are not cost-beneficial to implement.

"The Government and local authorities need to talk honestly with those affected about the difficult choices they face. Climate change is not going away: action is needed now to improve the way England’s coasts are managed today and in the future, to reduce the polluting emissions which cause climate change, and to prepare seaside communities for the realities of a warming world."

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