Entire seaside town could be permanently evacuated to escape incoming flood

Chris Miller, Lincolnshire County Council's head of environment, said 60,000 people could fall victim to the sea unless the county's coastal defences are improved, or other action is taken.

Mr Miller said "all potential outcomes" needed to be evaluated in order to create a business case for further investment, with 85 per cent of flood defences set to be unreliable after 2040.

He said: "I, in no way, want to be an officer who stands here and says: 'Yes, we're going to have to migrate Skegness.'

"No-one wants to be in that position, but we have to look at what that would look like."

A report published by the council in 2025 said if Government funding could not maintain flood defences, "a safe and just withdrawal of maintaining the current line of defence will entail" would have to be considered.

The report added that a "managed retreat" of the coastline would be in consideration.

When asked if the idea would be alarming to those living on the coast, he said: "It's possibly scarier to close our eyes to it, to just assume everything's going to be fine. We know it won't."

Existing defences protect 20,000 homes, 35,000 hectares of agricultural land, 29,000 caravans and 60,000 people, Mr Miller said.

A breach of those defences would cause fast-moving floods to spread through the coast, spreading up to about nine miles inland and depths of eight feet, he said.

It would also be difficult to manage an emergency evacuation response in such a situation, he added.

The economic impact on the towns of Skegness, Mablethorpe, and Sutton-on-Sea, could be in the region of £5.5billion, according to Mr Miller.

The council is now working with the Environment Agency and East Lindsey District Council in order to reduce the risk.

The Lincolnshire Coast 2100+ programme is also considering a "potential refortification" of the coastline and "completely remanaging the coastlines with wetland areas" - similar to how the Dutch reshaped their coast after a series of devastating storms.

Another option could mean the removal of beaches at popular resorts like Mablethorpe and Skegness.

Mr Miller said: "It's about not ruling anything out at this time.

"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 and for it to make a strong business case for investment [in flood defences] by Government."

The environment officer was keen to stress no decisions had yet been made, and all options were only considerations.

The Environment Agency replenishes thousand of tonnes of sand on the Lincolnshire coast annually at a cost between £10million and £15million.