+UPDATE+

Govt papers circulating in Whitehall claim that much of the recent development in Medway/Kent region as part of the Thames Gateway Project is “nonsensical”...

...as rising sea levels will require “an increasing retreat” from low lying Kent areas “within a generation”.
2/

The govt “is relaxed” about areas in East of England that have garnered more media attention as these are often lightly populated & “retreat is already in process”.

Development in Kent though appears to still be planned & undertaken as if sea level rises “are not happening”.
3/

Govt estimates as many as 30 000 “newly built properties” in Kent alone will thus be unsustainable within the next 2 decades without huge investment in sea defences - which will almost certainly be more costly than simply abondoning these homes and rebuilding further inland.
4/

Govt also critical of other areas of Kent including recent & proposed development of the “Folkestone Harbour & Seafront co” which is still going ahead to (ultimately) build hundreds of new homes on areas of Folkestone that are expected to be “underwater within a few decades”.
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