3 Isle of Wight locations have been named among areas that are most under threat from coastal erosion by 2100.
A report, published by One Home and compiled using research by their climate change specialists, has listed Colwell Bay, Thorness Bay and Binstead and Quarr as some of the most at-risk places in the country.
It is estimated that some 92 Island homes could be lost at a cost of around £21million.
Around 36 properties in Colwell Bay could be lost, with 33 lost at Thorness and 23 homes subject to coastal erosion at Binstead and Quarr.
The current Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) assigned to the 3 Island locations is No Active Intervention (NAI) which means that currently, a decision has been made not to install any forms of sea defences.
In some cases, homeowners could be asked to pay thousands of pounds towards the cost of demolishing their homes, while potentially still paying a mortgage and whilst demolition grants of up to £6,000 are available from authorities, costs above that threshold must be met by the owner.
One Home Chief Executive Angela Terry says:
“Sea levels are rising as global temperatures soar and so larger waves batter our coast during severe storms. These irreversible changes mean some cliff faces are crumbling fast.
Article continues below this advertisement “We can’t turn the tide or build a wall around the entire coast so we urgently need to help seaside communities to prepare for the damage that will come.
“Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) are publicly available documents but most people are unaware of their existence.
Anyone who wishes to view the document and interactive map can do so here.
But don’t cliffs erode all the time anyway? Haven’t they been doing that, literally, since they were created?
And, remembering my geography lessons, isn’t that eroded material deposited elsewhere to form new land e.g. sandy beaches etc?
I’m not sure what we’re being told here, I thought it was general knowledge that cliffs eroded and not something new that can be pinned on climate change?
Quite right. And we will all be brown bread by 2100 anyway!
‘Climate Change Specialist’ Hmm, I wonder if a geologist was consulted ?
Where are the 33 homes in thorness bay.
I stopped at ‘soaring global temperatures’ as it was clear this was just another piece of climate change propaganda
> “We can’t turn the tide or build a wall around the entire coast so we urgently need to help seaside communities to prepare for the damage that will come.”
Why not? They used to build sea defenses, but now they just make paths around broken ones, hello Totland, good luck Ventnor.
Look around, the island is full of sea defenses, it’s just not been expanded or repaired in decades.
And the island has a long history of reclaiming land from the sea! Why won’t that happen again?