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Home-owner wins cliff erosion fight
05.12.08
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A retired engineer has won a High Court battle for the right to attempt to save his clifftop home from falling into the sea.
A judge ruled that a decision of Natural England, the body responsible for the country's natural features, to allow the fossil-bearing cliffs near his home to continue to erode "for scientific reasons" was unlawful.
The ruling was a victory for Peter Boggis, 77, who lives at The Warren in Easton Bavents, near Southwold, Suffolk.
He spent tens of thousands of pounds building his own sea defences out of 250,000 tonnes of compacted clay soils to prevent his home and 13 others nearby from eventually slipping into the North Sea.
He will not be able to resume maintenance of his sea defences until after a possible appeal by Natural England against the ruling.
Mr Boggis said: "Mr Justice Blair's judgment lifts a great shadow from my mind and gives hope for the future for those that live by the coast of Britain.
"We have lived a nightmare in recent years. Inconvenient or not to bureaucracy, the defence of the coast should not be walked away from."
Reader views (3)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
At last a sensible ruling from a judge. Whatever next?
- Ed Wakefield, Westcliff-on-Sea England
Md, London
Perhaps you should find out what it is about before making a smart comment.
Mr Boggis installed his own sea defences. Natural England decided in its wisdom that he could no longer do that, meaning his home and 13 others would eventually be destroyed as aresult of unabated, continued erosion.
He went to court so that he could improve the sea defences, himself, paid for by him and his neighbours.
Don't be so mean minded.
- Ricky, Fareham
Eh? How a can a perfectly natural event, coastal erosion, being allowed to happen ever be unlawful?
One would have thought an "engineer" might have known about this perfectly natural event before considering purchasing.
- Md, London, UK
