
A £90,000 grant to help members of an endangered cliff-top community plan for coastal erosion has been officially accepted by North Yorkshire Council.
The money will be used to help the residents of 45 properties at Flat Cliffs, near Filey, which the council said are “at imminent risk of loss” from coastal erosion.
A project to shore up the sole access road to the homes, which runs through Primrose Valley holiday village, was completed in 2018.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for highways and transport, Coun Malcolm Taylor, whose responsibilities include coastal protection, said:
“We are pleased that our bid for £90,000 from the Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee has been successful, as it will allow us to develop a coastal adaptation plan and manage the predicted impacts of erosion at Flat Cliffs in Filey.”
Officials previously said that without the funding, residents would be “unprepared for the loss of properties”, making it difficult to manage the process when the time came for the buildings to be permanently vacated.
The money will be used to identify timescales for the loss of individual properties, according to a council report.
The local authority will also use the fund to “raise awareness of the coastal risks within the affected community and support residents” in their planning for the future.
However, earlier this year, some residents of Flat Cliffs said they were already aware of the erosion taking place at the hamlet and that they would prefer the council to use its funding to help slow down the erosion process.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Coun Taylor said:
“We believe raising awareness of the risks and supporting those planning for change is the best use of the money.”
”We are monitoring vulnerable areas and actively seeking ways to support communities and individuals plan to manage the impacts of coastal erosion.”
North Yorkshire has some of the fastest eroding coastline in Europe, and the Government has estimated that between 7 metres and 12 metres of land is at risk of loss at Flat Cliffs by 2055.
By 2105, that figure could be up to 40 metres, according to current estimates.
The Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee said its grant would go towards preparing the community of Flat Cliffs “to be ready for and be more resilient to coastal change”.
There are currently no examples of a coastal adaptation plan being adopted by a maritime local authority in England, according to a report prepared for the meeting.
The funding was officially accepted by the council on Friday, August 22.
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