New Environment Agency boss says some areas of British coast line cannot be defended

Some parts of Britain鈥檚 coastline are so badly eroded they may simply be left to crumble into the sea, the new head of the Environment Agency has said.

Lord Smith of Finsbury told The Independent the country faced difficult choices over which areas to protect from coastal erosion and which to abandon.

He said the agency was already working to identify areas that would be most at risk over the next 50 years and called on the government to help homeowners who would lose their properties.

He said: 鈥淲e are almost certainly not going to be able to defend absolutely every bit of coast. It would simply be an impossible task both in financial terms and engineering terms.

We are almost certainly not going to be able to defend absolutely every bit of coast

Lord Smith of Finsbury

鈥淲e will publish next year details of the work that鈥檚 been done, where we think the particular threats are, where we think there is current defence in place.

鈥淲e will begin to talk with communities where we think defence is not a viable option.鈥�

Parts of north-east Norfolk and Suffolk are thought to face the greatest danger.

Lord Smith also criticised the government for failing to take the environment seriously in relation to a third runway at Heathrow, a new generation of coal-fired power stations and the Severn barrage tidal energy scheme.