Thousands of Lincolnshire coastal residents could face forced relocation as flood defences near collapse

If you live in Skegness, Mablethorpe, or Sutton on Sea, your home could one day be under eight feet of water. That is not scaremongering. It is what council officials are now being forced to plan for.

Lincolnshire County Council has confirmed that relocating entire coastal communities is among the options on the table as it tries to find a way to protect the Lincolnshire coast from flooding.

Chris Miller, the council's head of environment, told councillors that 85% of existing coastal flood defences will no longer be reliable after 2040. He warned that without government investment or major action, more than 60,000 residents could be at risk.

Current defences protect around 20,000 homes, 29,000 caravans, and 35,000 hectares of farmland. If those defences were to fail, floodwater could travel up to nine miles inland and reach depths of 8ft. Miller said the speed of the water would make evacuation and rescue operations extremely difficult.

The economic cost of such a flood, he said, could reach £5.5 billion for towns like Skegness, Mablethorpe, and Sutton on Sea. That figure does not include wider losses such as business closures or the collapse of the tourism industry.

Miller was clear that no decisions have been made. But he was equally clear that all options must be looked at, including what he called a "managed retreat" from the coastline.

"I, in no way, want to be an officer who stands here and says 'yes, we're going to have to migrate Skegness'," he said. "No-one wants to be in that position, but we have to look at what that would look like."

He added: "It's possibly scarier to close our eyes to it, to just assume everything's going to be fine. We know it won't."

A council report from 2025 said that if government funding could not cover the cost of maintaining existing defences, officials would need to consider a "safe and just withdrawal" from the current line of defence.

The county council, the Environment Agency, and East Lindsey District Council have set up a joint programme, called Lincolnshire Coast 2100+, to look at every possible option. Those options range from rebuilding and reinforcing defences to creating new wetland areas along the coast. Some options would mean the end of beaches at resorts like Mablethorpe and Skegness.

Miller said the aim of examining every scenario, however difficult, was to build a strong case for central government investment.

"We are at the start of a journey to look at all the potential futures for the coastline, however unpalatable they may seem, to ensure we have properly costed the outcomes," he said.

No final decisions will be taken until that work is complete. Residents in coastal communities are not being asked to act now, but officials are urging people to take the threat seriously rather than assume the current situation will continue.