Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of managed realignment in the shore management plan on coastal (a) businesses and (b) facilities.

We are committed to supporting coastal communities and ensuring flood and coastal erosion risk management is fit for the challenges we face now and in the future.

Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) are developed and owned by the local councils and coastal protection authorities. These provide long-term strategic plans which identify approaches for managing the flood and coastal erosion risks at every stretch of coastline.

SMPs have recently been refreshed with updated action plans. This follows several years of collaborative work between the Environment Agency and coastal groups.

The recently updated National Coastal Erosion Risk Map for England (NCERM) provides the most up to date national picture of current and future coastal erosion risk for England. This is based on a further ten years of coastal monitoring data, the latest climate change evidence and technical input from coastal local authorities. It will support and inform local decision making.