Sea level rise in England will force 200,000 to abandon homes, data shows

According to new data, sea level rise will cause the abandonment of 200,000 coastal properties in England in 30 years.

Measures such as seawalls and other coastal defences can't be used to save these homes because they are too costly. Some of the areas that are at risk are North East Lincolnshire and Swale.

Last week, the head of the Environment Agency, Sir James Bevan, warned that many homes would be impossible to save and that whole communities would have to move inland.

The value of the homes at risk is in the tens of billions of pounds and the sea level rises that will bring about the flooding are almost inevitable.

The English coast is expected to see sea levels rise by about 35 cm by the year 2050. When there are storms, higher waves are caused by the erosion of the foreshores.

More than 200,000 homes and businesses are at risk of being abandoned according to researchers at the Tyndall Centre.

The author of the paper said that sea level rise is inevitable. Protection will continue to be provided for many of our larger cities at the coast, but for some coastal communities this may not be possible. There needs to be a national debate about the scale of the threat to these communities and how to help people to relocate.

In the long term, climate change means that some of our communities can't stay where they are. While we can come back safely and build back better after most river flooding, there is no return for land that has been taken away or put under water because of rising sea level.

He said that in some places the right answer would be to move communities away from danger rather than to try and protect them from the inevitable impacts of a rising sea level.

The previous estimates of the number of homes at risk were lower. The Committee on Climate Change warned about a third of the UK's coastline being in danger last year.

Jim Hall, professor of climate and environmental risks at the University of Oxford, who was not involved with the latest study, said that it won't be possible to protect every house and business from sea level rise. We need to plan now for how we can adjust, including a nationwide strategic approach to deciding how to manage the coast in the future.