Campaigners warn town will die without sea barrier

Campaigners have renewed calls for a tidal barrier to be installed to protect a coastal town, nearly two years after plans were shelved.

Lowestoft in Suffolk was devastated in 2013 when a powerful tidal surge damaged buildings and disrupted essential services.

Temporary flood barriers can be deployed if a weather warning is issued, but Penny Dack from the Use Your Voice campaign group said: "Rather than allow towns to die, which is going to happen if a barrier is not installed, we need Lowestoft to regenerate."

East Suffolk Council said it was working with the Environment Agency and partners to "explore the next steps in making Lowestoft better protected from flooding".

"The tidal barrier is imperative and an important part of the resilience and sustainability of the town," Ms Dack said.

"We are very concerned about the lack of a tidal barrier because we don't know when the next tidal surge will be.

"It could be tomorrow or it might be in 20 years' time but that risk is always present."

The risk continues to pose problems for some of the firms badly hit during the previous flood, such as those on Commercial Road near the harbour.

Some told the BBC securing insurance was almost impossible, and the overall value of their companies had taken a huge hit.

One of those businesses, Alpine Fabrication, which was left 1m (3ft) under water in 2013, has recently secured a huge project with Sizewell C.

But owner Carl Honeywood fears his firm might not be able to fund it as its ability to borrow money has been negatively affected.

"Cash flow is a real problem for us and, ironically, it is all down to flooding, so if there was a tidal barrier it would make financial sense to me," he said.

"Our insurance premium is through the roof and if there was another flood, I would need money to cover an increased excess. I'm being strangled a little bit."

Another business owner who fears what a future with no flood defence may look like is Melven Doe, managing director at Doe Metal Recycling.

"The flood was an absolute nightmare and there was about £60,000 worth of damage to machinery, and we wrote off a lorry, forklifts and other machinery," he said.

"For the next 12 months, that really killed the business. So if they can put a flood barrier in then that would be great."

The renewed calls for a barrier come nearly two years after the plug was pulled on the town's £199m Lowestoft Flood Protection scheme.

It was designed to protect more than 1,500 homes and 800 businesses but was axed in January 2024 due to rising costs and a funding shortfall of over £124m.

The first phase of the work was completed in 2023 but East Suffolk Council could not find the £20m for the next stage, and the government could not cover the costs.

"That had given me confidence to stay in business in the area, but once we found out there was going to be no barrier, we were totally deflated," added Mr Doe.

"We thought that would be some sort of guarantee the area was going to be safer and we were not going to still be on eggshells."

A spokesperson for East Suffolk Council said: "We continue to engage with community groups to support raising awareness."

"We met Use Your Voice Lowestoft at the recent annual temporary barrier deployment training exercise and discussed the issues and opportunities to engage the community to provide information around flood risk and resilience measures."

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