Coast 'could lose 1,100 properties' to erosion

About 1,100 properties along the East Yorkshire coast could be lost to erosion by 2055, a report has warned.

The Environment Agency said that if preventative measures, such as sea defences, were not built, the figure could be five times greater.

It also found that 115,200 properties were at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers and the sea in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

"Under future warming scenarios, the projection of properties in areas at flood risk and coastal erosion risk is likely to increase," the report said.

The agency said the report had used improved modelling to predict the possible impact of climate change.

The Yorkshire coast is one of the fastest eroding in Europe, East Riding of Yorkshire Council has said.

The authority estimated 14ft (4.5m) of land was lost to the sea each year.

David Whitaker, landlord of the Crown and Anchor pub in Kilnsea, said its proximity to the sea made it "vulnerable" in bad weather.

"We do get spray when we have a storm and it's just like being at sea," he said.

"It can cover even the upstairs window."

This report will make for sobering reading in a low-lying region that has more than 100 miles (160km) of coastline.

Flood risks impact communities in different ways - those who live near rivers are seeing bigger, more powerful and more frequent rainfall events stretching local defences.

Those in Lincolnshire feel ever-vulnerable as every drop of rain that falls here needs pumping out to sea, a herculean engineering task that will get harder in the decades ahead.

Coastal communities know that rising sea levels are accelerating rates of erosion and they have had to adapt to the increased flood risk or move away from it.

Climate change is tearing up the assumptions we once made about flood risk and the Environment Agency has had to update its guidance, forecasts and projections.

It will publish more granular data in the coming months, giving every resident the ability to see their own risk and make choices.

The stark reality is that flood defence budgets are finite - and not everywhere can be protected.

Parts of the original village, including its church and graveyard, were lost to the sea in the 19th Century.

Mr Whitaker said what's left could see the same fate in the coming decades.

"It happened in Old Kilnsea down the road, I daresay it will [here] at some point," he said.

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