Norfolk coastal erosion

The crumbling cliffs at Happisburgh, coastal erosion has brought the sea dangerously close Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

Walkers are warned of the cliff's precariousness Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

Campaigner Malcolm Kerby standing in front of a section of beach at Happisburgh, where the sea defences have completely decayed Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

Wooden sea defences were constructed after the 1953 flood but are now decaying Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

Most of the owners of these houses on Beach Road, Happisburgh have left. One house was recently valued at one pound Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

Furious that the plans to flood part of the Broads were drawn up without consulting local people, residents have arranged a series of public meetings to discuss how they can defend their homes Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

Under the plans for "managed retreat", six villages, including Hickling and Potter Heigham, would be given up to the sea Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

Famous Broadland scenery could be lost to the sea, including Horsey's windmill, pictured here. There are dozens of windmills across the Broads, which were originally used to drain the low-lying land Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

It is not just coastal properties that are at risk. Houses several miles inland could also be lost to the sea with coastal erosion exacerbated by climate change and the likelihood that sea defences will have to be abandoned at some point in the next 50 to 100 years Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

John Buxton remembers the floods of 1938. He has managed the low-lying land around Horsey for more than five decades and is convinced that the Broads can be saved from the sea Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian