Coastline campaigners target PM

CAMPAIGNERS will turn up the heat on Prime Minister Gordon Brown today with a demonstration over proposals to withdraw funding for flood defences in Suffolk.

CAMPAIGNERS will turn up the heat on Prime Minister Gordon Brown today with a demonstration over proposals to withdraw funding for flood defences in Suffolk.

The protestors - who are angry about the Environment Agency's plans to withdraw funding for flood defences at Blyth Estuary - will take their fight to the top in a message to Mr Brown, who is currently enjoying a summer holiday in the area.

They have planned a large rally on Southwold promenade and will link arms to form a human chain.

Mr Brown, his wife Sarah and sons John, four and Fraser, two, are currently staying in the area.

However, after the Environment Agency announced last year it can no longer financially justify the protection of the Blyth Estuary from flooding and that it will now carry out a policy of managed retreat, much of the stunning landscape currently being enjoyed by the Prime Minister and his family will disappear in the coming years.

Campaigners plan to use Mr Brown's visit to ask him to intervene and ensure that more government money is spent protecting the Suffolk coast.

Sue Allen, chairman of the Blyth Estuary Group - which is organising the protest, said: “We're not trying to ruin Mr Brown's holiday - we just need his help.

“We have to make the point while he's here, that his government could help save this coastline that he has come to visit, rather than abandon us to the sea.

“We want him to have a fabulous time. Then perhaps he will realise why we are all so upset at the prospect of losing this wonderful coastline.”