Colchester City Council’s strategic plan 2023-26 states that its first priority is to ‘respond to the climate emergency’. However, its list of actions fails to even mention the effects of sea level rise on our area. This is despite the UK government’s Foresight report stating that sea level rise is “one of the top four priority risks for the UK Government.”
Ahead of last week’s council meeting I submitted a question to the leader of the council, Councillor David King, asking him to commit to urgently reviewing whether the Council’s current strategic plan should be revised to include the local effects of sea level rise and coastal erosion, and report back to the council later this year. His response was that he didn’t feel it was appropriate to do so…!
Local sea level has already risen by around 30cm since 1900 and is currently rising at 4mm a year, with the UK’s Climate Change Committee expecting this to significantly increase in the next 25 years. While recent research has suggested that this may lead to coastal erosion rates increasing by between 3 and 7 times.
Councillor King’s refusal to even consider reviewing the issue therefore displays an extraordinary lack of concern by the current Lib-Dem leadership of Colchester City Council for one of the most urgent issues affecting our local area. Indeed, not only have I previously raised the issue at a recent council meeting, but two years ago the BBC reported that research by the University of East Anglia had shown the council areas around the Blackwater estuary were among those most at risk in the UK from sea level rise over the next 25 years.
I would therefore urge the current Lib-Dem leadership of Colchester City Council to urgently review their position on this.
Dr Martin Parsons
Colchester City Councillor for Mersea and Pyefleet ward (Cons)
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