Rebecca Pow MP Minister for Environmental Quality and Resilience 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF T: +44 (0) 3459 335577 E: correspondence.section@defra.gov.uk W: gov.uk/defra
Cllr Alex Rennie Leader of Havant Borough Council Public Service Plaza Civic Centre Road, Havant Hampshire, PO9 2AX Alex.Rennie@havant.gov.uk
Our ref: PO2023/12389/MK
8 September 2023
Dear Alex, Thank you for your letter of 22 June about coastal assets in the vicinity of Langstone Mill Pond and Chichester Harbour. I apologise for the delay in responding. Please also accept this as a response to your letter of the same date to Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay. I know the Environment Agency (EA) is aware of the deterioration of the structures you describe, and the challenges associated with management of the coastline within the harbour. I am very aware of the terrible consequences flooding and coastal erosion can have for people, businesses and the environment. Climate change is happening now, and we expect to see an increase in extreme weather, flooding and coastal erosion. That is why our Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Policy Statement and Strategy provides a long-term vision of how we will better protect and prepare homes and businesses from flooding and coastal change and create climate resilient places. This Government is acting to drive down flood risk from every angle and announced in March 2020 that the amount invested in flood and coastal erosion schemes would be doubled in England to £5.2 billion between 2021 and 2027, providing around 2,000 flood defences to better protect hundreds of thousands of properties across England. Our £5.2 billion programme includes defences for the coast where it is sustainable and affordable to defend the coastline. In areas where it is not, other approaches such as managed realignment or transition will be needed. For this reason, in addition to the £5.2 billion investment, the Government is investing £200 million in the Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme. As part of this £200 million, Ministers have allocated £36 million over six years to develop a ‘Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme’ to trial opportunities, in a small number of coastal areas at significant risk of coastal erosion, to transition and adapt to a changing climate/coastline. As I am sure you will appreciate, local authorities are best placed to understand their coastline and to develop the most appropriate approaches to managing risk through Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) and their local planning policies. By 2026, Defra has committed to review policy on these plans (in our Policy Statement) to ensure SMPs remain fit for the future, and are transparent, continuously reviewed and enable local authorities to make robust decisions for their areas. The EA is therefore supportive of considering the potential roll back of the footpath as part of an appropriate adaptation plan. Although the objectives and scope of the proposed Chichester Harbour Environment and Investment Adaptation Plan have not yet been developed, the EA anticipates that this could be the appropriate mechanism for taking all the necessary factors into consideration.