Farmer takes legal advice over flooding

Mr Baird has taken legal advice about enforcing agreements between his estate and the Environment Agency to maintain some of the village's sea defences.

"It would cost me about 250,000 to go to the High Court to fight the agency," he said. "It would probably cost the agency the same amount to defend themselves.

"Is that the best use of their money? I don't believe it is."

Mr Baird was among dozens of visitors who went along to an exhibition about the agency's latest coastal protection strategy.

This proposes abandoning the sea defences after a two-year period to enable the sea to claim part of the shoreline.

The agency is seeking to negotiate its exit from the agreements, but Mr Baird said he would only accept compensation equal to the cost of keeping up the coastline.

"I won't be accepting 30,000 a year to lose 400 acres of farmland. I would want the same amount as the agency spends on the sea defences.

"If that's the case, they might as well carry on maintaining them," he said.

The Environment Agency's obligations date back some 40 years. In the 1950s, the sea came through at Elmer and flooded the A259.

This prompted action and the agency decided to take on the maintenance of some of Climping's shoreline in the 1960s. A second agreement was signed in the following decade. Both are for perpetuity.

John O'Flynn, the agency's area flooding coastal risk manager, said the agreements covered about a third of the Climping coastline.

Government rules stated every 1 spent on sea defences should produce 5 of benefits.

"For Climping, that 1 produces just 20p of benefits. We need to sit down with the Baird family," said Mr O'Flynn.

"We need to discuss with them the legal agreements and how they are going to work in the long term.

"This strategy is for the next 100 years and the sea level could rise by a metre. The idea that we defend the coast at all costs in those circumstances is just not sustainable.

"That increase in sea level is going to put increasing pressure on our funds. We have to accept things are going to be different in the future."

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