SUSSEX could lose miles of shoreline following a move to abandon coastal defences to let nature take its course.

Cuckmere, Birling Gap, Quay Meadow in Bosham and East Head in West Wittering have all been highlighted as areas of concern by The National Trust.

But the charity has rejected building sea walls and is instead encouraged moving buildings, roads and car parks further inland.

The charity published a report – Shifting Shores – which condemns coastal local authorities which continue to allow homes to be built in areas at risk from a rise in the sea level because of climate change.

The trust said the storms which battered the coast in the winter of 2013/14 had demonstrated that many parts of the coast were simply impossible to defend.

It has drawn up plans for 80 if its most vulnerable coastal sites, four of which are in Sussex, and has accepted buildings will be lost at Birling Gap.

But Roy Dudley of the Telscombe Cliffs Residents Association believes protection is vital.

He said: “There’s no protection at all along the way to Saltdean and there are areas there where the land ends 10m from the A259.

“It should be and must be protected.”

The trust’s coast and marine adviser Phil Dyke said: “Recreating a naturally functioning shoreline will free us from the sea defence cycle of construct, fail and reconstruct.

“The trust is on the frontline of change affecting both the natural and historic environment, but we can only meet these challenges by working with others – with coastal communities, partner organisations and people who care as much as we do about the coast.

“The coming years will be critical to the future wellbeing of our coast.”

The Environment Agency estimates 700 properties in England will be lost to coastal erosion by 2030 – like those at Birling Gap in 2014 – and that 247,000 businesses and homes are at high risk of flooding.