Army chief joins battle to Save the Broads

Britain's top soldier who has spent a lifetime defending Queen and country today fired a broadside at proposals to allow parts of the Norfolk Broads to be flooded by the sea.

Government conservation group Natural England is behind proposals to abandon coastal defences and allow the North Sea to claim the Upper Thurne and its broads.

If adopted, the plan would spell the end for some of Britain's finest pike fisheries such as Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere.

In an interview with the Eastern Daily Press newspaper today General Sir Richard Dannatt, who is the head of the British Army, said: “I think it would be a tragedy if we allowed that area to be given up and inundated.

“I think to give up a great chunk of Norfolk to the sea without a fight is something I find quite counter-intuitive and quite difficult to do.

“I really think we should continue to invest in the sea defences around there, I think it would be a tragedy to lose a wonderful area of the county by allowing the sea in without a fight. After all, the Dutch manage to achieve this perfectly well so why can't we do this on our side of the North Sea.”

Click here to read the interview.

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