Coastal homeowners in the UK should prepare for the worst as climate change brings worse weather

The Western Daily Press (UK): The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change has just reported on the future risks of climate change. Richard Bagwell looks at how the issue may affect coastal property owners Climate change modelling suggests we should expect more extreme weather events, including the devastating coastal flooding we have recently witnessed.

The Environment Agency states that more than 5.5 million, or one in six, properties are at risk of flooding across England and Wales. The latest UKCP09 climate change projections indicate rising sea levels, while increasingly severe and frequent rainstorms mean risk of floods will increase.

For coastal property of any description, flood defences will be increasingly important, as will plans for managed retreats that have been announced in some parts of the country. The legislative framework, including the Water Resources Act 1991, the Land Drainage Act 1991 and the Coastal Protection Act 1949, was updated by the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 and associated regulations.

The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 required the Environment Agency to "develop, maintain, apply and monitor a strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management in England".

This strategy document describes what needs to be done by all organisations involved in flood and coastal erosion risk management, including councils, internal drainage boards, coastal protection authorities, water and sewerage companies, highways authorities, and the Environment Agency...

Watching the coast in Lyme Regis, shot by Wissekerke, Wikimedia Commons,  under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license