Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what information they are collecting and publishing on the rates of coastal erosion in different regions, especially in rural areas; and what level of expenditure, if any, they plan to commit to reducing the current rates.

Management of coastal erosion is a devolved matter. Coastal erosion is a natural process that always has and always will shape our coastline.

The National Coastal Erosion Risk Maps provide a consistent assessment of coastal erosion risk around England and Wales, and contain predictions for the future. They have been available to the public on the Environment Agency’s (EA) website since 2012, but were temporarily unavailable in April 2018. The EA expects them to be live again in June 2018.

We defend the coastline where it is sustainable and affordable to do so, and let the coast function naturally in areas where it is not. Coastal protection authorities (district councils) lead on management of coastal erosion risk in England. The EA provides a strategic overview to ensure that decisions on the English coast are made in a joined up manner. There are 22 shoreline management plans covering the 6,000 mile coast of England and Wales. The plans are based on scientific, social, economic and environmental data. The plans provide a high level, long term policy framework to manage the risk of coastal change over three time horizons: 20, 50 and 100 years. The plans recommend four approaches to manage the coastline. These scale from building and maintaining new defences (hold the line), to allowing the coast line to evolve naturally (no active intervention). These plans were developed by coastal groups in each area, the members of which were drawn from individual coastal protection authorities, executive agencies and other local interests.

Between April 2015 and March 2021, the Government plans to invest £165 million in coastal erosion projects and £690 million on schemes to better protect communities against flooding from the sea around England. The Scottish Government provides local authorities with £42 million each year to help them invest in flood protection measures.