David Marcer, of Hallsands, Kingsbridge, writes:

It was refreshing to read in last week’s Gazette that Professor Gerd Masselink ­supported what local people have been saying for some time, that the only feasible way to maintain the sea defences along Start Bay is by a massive ­redistribution of the shingle.

It seems, however, that he is of the opinion that the shingle must not go as far as Hallsands because this would be ‘acting against policy’.

But does he not accept that many of the greatest evils of mankind have been perpetrated by people who refused to act against official policy?

As far as Hallsands is ­concerned, the shoreline ­management plan on which the professor relies is neither ­credible nor democratic. The designation of ‘no active ­intervention’ was based on erroneous facts and was imposed upon us covertly and without consultation.

When an electricity company is planning an interruption of service, it informs its customers by letter; but when bureaucrats are planning to condemn homes to inundation, it seems that such transparency is out of the question.

Professor Masselink refers to the shingle being in the Start Bay system, but why does he pretend that Hallsands is not part of that system? The only feasible way to move large quantities of shingle is by barge. To refuse to take the barge any further south than Beesands because of a ­fallacious and undemocratic policy is not only petty, it is ­scientifically fallacious.

Now is the time for the ­residents of all three coastal ­villages – Torcross, Beesands and Hallsands – to stand up, stand together and demand action.

If George Osborne can find £60m for a so-called ‘garden bridge’ in London, he can find a couple of million to save homes on Start Bay.

After all, David Cameron likes to tell us that we live in the fifth-richest economy in the world.