Lamb looks to 'Go Dutch' after his date in Holland

12.00.00am GMT Tue 2nd Dec 2008

Norman Lamb led a high-powered delegation to the Netherlands to see how the Dutch tackle the issue of coastal erosion. He has called for the government to look at 'going Dutch' in working to protect North Norfolk's coastline.

Norman Lamb MP, who chairs the all party parliamentary group on coastal and marine issues, said there was "a compelling logic" to applying the Dutch approach to the UK.

Mr Lamb called meeting with Dutch government officials "illuminating and fascinating" and quoted their attitude as the key difference between them and the current British administration when it came to dealing with coastal defence:

"The attitude to rising sea levels was one of working out how to deal with the situation rather than backing away from it." He added: "I asked them about a possible one metre rise in sea levels. They said 'we think we can maintain our defences to deal with that'."

Norman was full of praise for the Dutch and their proactive stance in handling coastal erosion, "It was so stark how different the mindset is."

"One can understand how the approach has come to be different. A substantial amount of their population and economic engine is below sea level and their history has been dominated by the subject of land reclamation.

"But whatever the different culture and history, the overarching point is that the way they treat people in their communities is completely different and there are massive lessons to be learned from that."