Climate change predictions may harm UK regeneration plans

BBC: Concerns have arisen over climate change predictions which could result in coastal regeneration projects in the south west being scuppered. The Government has issued councils with planning guidance designed to ensure new buildings can cope with increased flood levels over the next century.

…Steve Maddison, from the Environment Agency, added: "We need to ensure that people are going to be safe, that buildings are going to be resilient and that public funds are not going to be spent in the future on protecting these new developments. "However, the main priority is that people's lives are not at risk for the future lifetime of these developments."

But Mr Jones, who chairs Devon and Cornwall Business Council, claims that the plans could have a negative impact on the local economy. "The costs of compliance, mitigation and flood protection are enormous and the knock-on effect is that a lot of essential regeneration sites will not be brought forward," he said….

The West Penwith coast of Cornwall. Photo by Tom Corser www.tomcorser.com. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 England & Wales (UK) Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/deed.en_GB"