Coastal Erosion Public Consultation

Consultation: Hemsby community invited to consider rock berm options

Residents and businesses in Hemsby are invited to take part in a consultation to explore, assess and comment on important design options for a proposed rock berm intended to help reduce coastal erosion.

As part of ongoing work to support the community, Great Yarmouth Borough Council and Coastal Partnership East have been working with the community to consider ways to respond to coastal change along this dynamic stretch of coastline.

With a rock berm identified with the community as the preferred short- to medium-term solution to help reduce the rate of erosion and give Hemsby extra time to adapt to change, the council commissioned independent experts Jacobs to progress an outline design, technical and environmental studies.

How to take part

As the next stage in the process, the whole community is now invited to take part in a virtual consultation on the outline design and consider the options for the proposed rock berm. Due to the current covid restrictions on gatherings, a “virtual village hall” has been created to allow people to take part. People can take part online here from today (Monday, May 10) until Friday, June 18 2021.

The consultation includes rock berm design options and more refined potential costings. The virtual village hall has information about the options, environmental studies and reports which can be viewed and downloaded. People can navigate around a 360-degree view, reading the display boards, viewing Power Point presentations and a short film. Questions can be left for the project team, along with feedback.

Next steps

This consultation is the next important step towards shaping and submitting a final scheme for planning approval. Only if a scheme is found to be technically, ecologically and financially viable, as well as acceptable to the community as a whole, could any application be made for Government funding. Significant partnership funding would also need to be secured from other sources.