After The Tide

An in-person event at The Enterprise Centre, UEA.

17.15 -Prior to the screening we invite you to join us for refreshments.

ClimateUEA and CreativeUEA are excited to announce a screening of After The Tide. The screening will be followed by discussion chaired by Prof Robert Nicholls (Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Environmental Sciences, UEA) with the filmmakers Joseph Harrington and Evie Calaby, and Dr Sophie Day, an expert in coastal change and adaptation (Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Environmental Sciences, UEA) who features in the film and advised on the science, policy and governance context.

After The Tide explores the pressing issue of coastal erosion and how the idyllic village of Happisburgh in Norfolk, UK, is threatened by a new wave of government policy. Across the UK, coastal erosion has been a constant threat, with many villages lost over centuries to the encroaching tide. However, with the threat of climate change, a dramatic rise in sea levels and hard defences failing, these communities are facing rapid rates of erosion which threaten their way of life.

Capturing first-hand insights from locals whose homes are being scheduled for demolition, the film looks at the injustice and anger felt by residents. They look up and down the coastline to see settlements not much bigger than theirs protected by large concrete sea walls while they’re deemed “not of significant economical interest” to be invested in. For Happisburgh specifically, 38 homes have been lost since 1996 and nationally, 2218 UK homes are at risk in the coming years. For someone at risk of losing their home today, the only support on offer is a grant for demolition.

The long term reality for the UK is bleak. Our sea defences will eventually fail and as estuaries and rivers flood, whole counties will be submerged. To combat this, fresh academic thinking along with a new government policy called ‘CTAP’ is currently being trialled in East Riding of Yorkshire and North Norfolk - two areas with the highest rates of coastal erosion in the UK. The trial includes £36m of funding focused on future adaptation and coastal management. Some of these measures include ‘rolling back’ properties as well as replacing public or community owned buildings with removable, modular, or other innovative buildings.

For some, it’s a breath of fresh air - a relief that there may finally be some help and a coordinated government response. For others, it supports an implication that their homes, communities and way of life isn’t important and their decades-long plea for robust sea defences has been ignored.

“We don’t want to adapt, we don't want to lose our lighthouse, we don’t want to lose our church, we want to keep our community” - Bryony Nierop-Reading, Resident

Host or Publisher University of East Anglia