A failure to act on erosion around a village on Norfolk’s east coast would cost the local economy some £92m over the coming 100 years, experts have warned.
The stark statistic was revealed by consultants at AECOM, who had been tasked with assessing the economic impact of erosion at Hemsby by Great Yarmouth Borough Council (GYBC).
Over the next 20 years alone, AECOM estimates that some £22m would be lost from the economy - most of which would be due to the area becoming less attractive to tourists.
Planning permission for a rock berm at Hemsby was granted by GYBC in April 2022 - but it was given before the council had decided how to finance the project.
At a meeting of GYBC’s environment committee on Tuesday, November 15, councillors were told that AECOM’s estimations had been sought to help maximise the chance of the project receiving funding from the Environment Agency.
The consultants found that some £16.5m would be lost from the local visitor economy over the next 20 years - as tourism accounts for 37pc of the area’s employment.
A further £68k would be lost in council taxes paid by properties which would be swept into the sea over the next 20 years, and £938k from the loss of car park income in that same period, as two seafront car parks experience erosion.
The committee’s Conservative chair, Paul Wells said there was a danger of a “snowball effect” of damage caused by the erosion.
“You’ve got the literal physical damage… but what then happens as well is that the perception changes,” he said.
“The more people perceive that there’s damage to Hemsby, the more the potential chance that people stop coming.”
Labour councillor Marlene Fairhead added that there was also a significant impact on the area’s lifeboat station.
“They have suffered an awful lot with the erosion so far,” she said.
“They haven’t been able to launch because there’s no sand there to get off [from].”
An appendix to the council's report on the berm, outlining the various options for additional works to protect the most vulnerable parts of Hemsby’s coastline, has been kept confidential from the press and public on commercial grounds.
The cost of building the berm itself has previously been reported as being as high as £9m.
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