FUTURE POLICY
OPTIONS
3.1 The Council is particularly concerned about the long-term
sustainable nature of the current coastal defence policies. In
broad terms the response to local needs is determined by the size
of the community affected and the property values. If these are
high enough to justify expenditure then the grant mechanisms come
in. However if these criteria are not met then the community or
individuals are left to fend for themselves.
3.2 This is considered inequitable. There should be a
commitment to protecting communities—preferably before they
become unduly affected emotionally, as happens at present—but
in addition, for vulnerable individual dwellings or small groups
of dwellings, there should be a system of "geared" compensation.
3.3 Geared compensation would relate the degree or amount
of compensation to the length of time of ownership and provide
compensation for either the loss of property or for the cost of
rebuilding and relocating. Such a system could be extended to
compensation for increased loss of property which can be demonstrated
as being due to the effect of a coastal defence project.
3.4 A framework approach is recommended to provide an
overall assessment to determine whether action is appropriate
to invest in coastal or flood defences. The framework would include
an assessment of social costs resulting from the loss of the community,
the economic costs which would include an assessment of the property
values or rebuilding costs, loss and disruption of services including
roads, sewers, water mains, electricity etc., and the environmental
costs eg loss of any special features (wetlands, bird habitats,
local architecture, sites of historic interest, wider scale environmental
impacts, etc).
3.5 It is doubtful if the above framework should be converted
into a quasi cost-benefit economic analysis but rather into an
analytical decision making process.
3.6 The East Riding Coastline is receding significantly.
Historically the average rate has been assessed at between 1.8
and 2 metres per year over the 40 kilometre length of coastline.
In recent years local rates have been as high as 8 metres per
year and this has continued at these rates for several years at
a time. This pattern is unusual looking at the historic date.
The reasons are not clear—rising sea levels, more severe
weather or whatever.
3.7 Environmental sustainability, of course, requires
a balance between the aspiration to minimise erosion and its physical
effects against the investment society is prepared to put into
the defences and the environmental impact of those defences.
15 April 1998
