Broads flooding plans are abandoned

Almost a year ago to the day, anger erupted after controversial plans to abandon coastal defences and surrender large areas of the Broads to the sea were leaked to the media.

Some of Europe's finest pike fisheries were under threat - including the Upper Thurne, Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere. Just weeks ago, the system produced a 45lbs pike, the largest ever caught from a British river.

Thousands signed a PAC petition on Prime Minister Gordon Brown's website.

Now Natural England has dropped the controversial proposals from its final report.

Click here for full story.

Foreign weed invades Broads

Pennywort - a fast-growing alien species of weed which chokes waterways - is infesting parts of Rockland Broad, off Norfolk's River Yare, and the upper reaches of the River Waveney.

Efforts are under way to stem the invasion. Click here for more.

Broadland Pike guru heads for Lincoln

Pike of Broadland author Stephen Harper is acknowleged both as an authority on the Norfolk Broads and no slouch when it comes to fishing them.

Linclon PAC have signed him up for their first talk of the winter at their new venue the Stag's Head in Newport, Lincoln, on Monday, September 1 (7.30pm). Admission is £2.50 members/£3.50 non-members, all welcome.

The Stag's Head is on the B1226 next to the St Nicholas Church, postcode LN1 3DP.

Click here for this winter's programme of meetings in Lincoln.

EA probes pike deaths on Thurne

Environment Agency scientists are investigating pike deaths on Norfolk's River Thurne.

It comes just days after Floods Minister Phil Woolas pledged £100m to maintain sea defences protecting the river and its broads from coastal flooding for another 50 years.

Click here for more.

Broads flood plan is devastating, warns MP

The full scale of plans to surrender flood defences on the Norfolk coast are revealed today. They would lead to the flooding of internationally-important pike fisheries on the Upper Thurne system and the loss of Horsey Mere, Hickling Broad, the Martham broads and Heigham Sound.

Twenty-five square miles of the Broads would be flooded by the sea, which would be allowed to breach coastal defences and flood inland as far as Potter heigham and Stalham.

North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb today said the plans were devastating. He told the Eastern Daily Press: "What shocks me is that profound, devastating implications are being discussed without the communities affected being part of the decision at all."

Click here to read the full story - EDP Reports

The Pike Anglers Club has launched an online petition to Save The Broads. Click here to sign up.

PAC launches Save The Broads campaign

Anglers have launched a campaign to save some of Britain's most historic pike fisheries, after it was revealed they are under threat from plans to abandon coastal defences which protect parts of the Norfolk Broads.
Proposals to allow the Upper Thurne system to be flooded by the sea have been discussed by the Broads Authority, Natural England and the Evironment Agency.
If they are put into action, the 2,500-strong Pike Anglers Club fears Horsey Mere, Hickling Broad, the Martham Broads and Heigham Sound will be lost forever within a generation.
Whole villages and thousands of acres of farmland will also be flooded or turned into salt marsh.
PAC president Phil Wakeford said: "In 2007, we warned that historically important fisheries and nature reserves were at risk from proposals to cut sea defence budgets. Our worst fears have now been confirmed.
"While the Upper Thurne system is a unique fishery which has produced some of the biggest wild pike ever landed in the world, it also contains internationally-important nature reserves which are of key importance to over-wintering wildfowl.
"A number of villages will also be abandoned if this plan is given the go-ahead. We understand other options, including maintaining sea defences, were also tabled but rejected.
"We have today launched an online petition as the first stage of a campaign to save the Thurne and its broads. We call upon anyone who loves this unique environment to join us in the fight to save it."
Three record pike, each over 40lbs, were landed from the Thurne system, inspiring generations of pike anglers to visit Norfolk.
Pike fishing remains an important revenue earner for the county, along with bird watching.
The Pike Anglers Club has campaigned to protect the pike and pike fishing since it was formed in the Fens 30 years ago. Last year it helped villagers fight a successful campaign to save the Cambridgeshire Lodes.
The petition can be found on the Ten Downing Street website, click here to sign it. More information will be posted as we get it on the Save The Broads website. Click here to see it.

Broads braced for storm tide floods

Severe flood warnings were in place across the Broads last night as a combination of strong north-westerly winds, low air pressure and high tides triggered a 10ft storm surge in the North Sea.

The Yare and Waveney, along with their broads, were expected to bear the brunt of flooding, with this morning's high tides sending salt water upstream.

Flood watches were also in place along the Thurne system, whose northern broads are among the most at risk from the sea, with budget cuts meaning maintenance of coastal defences is being scaled back.

The Environment Agency said there were "extreme risks to life and property" from Great Yarmouth to Lowestoft and along the coasts of Essex and Kent.

Thousands were being evacuated from their homes along the Suffolk coast, with many spending the night at leisure centres in Lowestoft and Leiston, and Beccles Town Hall.

Experts said improved sea defences, weather forecasting and communications would avert a repeat of the 1953 floods, where hundreds died in what was dubbed Britain's worst natural disaster.

But thousands of low-lying homes were feared to be at risk, as emergency services across eastern England prepared to deal with the aftermath.

Chilling scenario - see graphics and commentary on the BBC website.

EA in new bid to protect Broads fish

The EA has announced a new bid to protect part of the Broads from salt incursion. Click here.

Broads should recover from salt tides - EA

Norfolk's pike fishing mecca does not appear to have been harmed by last winter's storm surges, the Environment Agency said today.

Anglers feared the worst as gales lashed the East Coast last November, driving salt tides higher than normal up the rivers Yare and Thurne.

But a report in Angle - the EA's magazine for anglers in East Anglia - says: "The tidal flooding of the Broads last November should have little effect on fish stocks, and anglers can look forward to a good season's sport."

The EA adds the storm surge, on November 1, was the highest since the 1953 floods, which killed more than 40 people as the sea broke through defences.

"It was one of the worst incidents of fish deaths from natural causes in the Norfolk Broads in the last 15 years. Thousands of fish died."

But hundreds of thousands more were saved by flood barriers at Potter Heigham boatyards, which were packed with juvenile silver fish.

Mortality was worst on the Yare, where dead fish were seen upstream of Brundall. While it is difficult to assess how badly pike were affected, few were seen amid the large numbers of silver fish.

The EA's Graham Gamble said: "It was mainly the young fish which were lost and the numbers will be replenished naturally. I don't think anyone will notice any big difference this coming year."

But while a once in 50 year storm tide is not the end of fishing, such tides are predicted to become more common as sea levels rise and our climate changes.

There is already controversy over the way Broadland rivers are managed to contain water, rather than allow it to flood onto marshland as it has for centuries.

New Broads safety checks come into force

New safety laws concerning larger craft using the Norfolk Broads have come into force. More here.

They became law on the day a man was taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation, after being resuced from a cruiser which caught fire and sank on the Yare at Bramerton, near Norwich.

Broads boaters petition minister

A petition criticising the Broads Authority's maintenance of East Anglia's unique waterways will be handed over to Defra minister Barry Gardiner.

The online petition, which has so far attracted around 1,450 signatures, makes a direct appeal, warning: “Without major corrective action the Norfolk Broads will be lost within a generation”.

For more on the story, click here.

To sign the petition, click here.

Broads pikers warned after vandals strike

Anglers fishing the River Thurne around Martham in Norfolk are being warned after wheel nuts were loosened on a trailer with potentially deadly consequences.

A wheel came off the trailer after it had been left at Cess Road, Martham, for the day.

Luckily in bounced into someone's garden off the Martham - Acle road. Had it come adrift on the A47, it's no exaggeration to say someone could have been killed.

"Imagine if that had come off at 60mph and gone through someone's windscreen," a PAC spokesman said.

"Or a boat and trailer had broken loose in front of a lorry or a bus-load of school children."

The incident is not the first to have happened in the area. Anglers cars had nails pushed into their tyres last week. A camper van has also been damaged in a separate attack.

Tonight the PAC advised all members to secure vehicles and trailers, and leave them at attended boatyards and slipways until the culprit or culprits are caught.

"We are working with pike anglers in Norfolk tonight to ensure that they are - before someone is seriously injured or worse," a spokesman said.