30/07/2008 00:01:00
Demonstrators campaigning for better protection of the east coast will stage a protest demanding government funding.
The Blyth Estuary Group has placed a call on its websites inviting those concerned about the coastline to join it in protest on Southwold promenade today "to draw attention to our neglected river and shoreline defences".
Southwold's residents say that the government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) may allow areas of the Suffolk coastline to flood as part of a long-term sea defence plan.
The protestors believe that the government should allocate more funding towards protecting the south east coast. They will be making the most of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's visit to the area for his summer holiday away from London.
The BBC reports that Group chairman Sue Allen said: "Our whole coastline is under threat from the lack of funds for maintaining sea defences and we need Gordon Brown's help.
"Of course there are other demands on tax money - and the economic climate is tight - but what is more important than preserving our land and our way of life for future generations? This is our heritage. That's why it's called the Heritage Coast.
"Gordon Brown's government announce initiatives to link up coastal paths and say how important our coastline is and then fail to fund protection of it.
"The sea coming in is not inevitable, it is just a matter of political will."
The protest, staged near Mr Brown's holiday home, hopes to raise the Prime Minister's attention so that he will take action and increase government spending to combat coastal erosion.