Cuckmere Valley flood plans to be revealed

It says it is keen to work with other organisations to understand their concerns.

But members of Rescue the Cuckmere Valley say the Environment Agency's plans to flood it are flawed and ill-judged.

They say 600,000 already spent on consultancy fees relating to this project is too much and should have spent on national flood defences .

Des Abott from Rescue the Cuckmere Valley said: 'Given that there is widespread loss of property and suffering throughout the country, the proposals of the Environment Agency beggars belief.'

Andrew Gilham, Environment Agency flood risk manager for Sussex said: 'We understand that change to a popular location like this can cause concern but the estuary has seen a lot of change in the past and will continue to. This is because, with climate change and sea level rise, the work we do now will not be effective in the future. We would need to provide bigger and more expensive defenced that would not only be environmentally damaging but would also impact visually on the area.'

Mr Gilham said that the agency spendt up to 50,000 a year just to keep the mouth of the river clear of shingle to reduce the flooding upstream at Alfriston.

It says it estimates that during the next 100 years it would cost the agency 18 million to build and maintain river and coastal defences to cope with the sea level rise.

From the September 10 to December 10 there will be a drop-in sessions in Alfriston, Seaford and at the Seven Sisters Country Park where representatives will be available to talk to people about their proposals.