The Demise of Fairbourne
The five hundred residents of Fairbourne, a picturesque village in Cardigan Bay, West Wales, have formed yet another coastal community reacting against the dictates of the Shoreline (mis) Management Plan (SMP) which calls for that the entire Welsh village be ‘decommissioned’ and its population forced to move because it’s sea defences have been abandoned.
They are now saving to fund legal action against the plans and say they have already raised 10 per cent of the amount needed to pay a barrister.
Fairbourne is now in the same position as Hemsby and many other communities ranging from The Humber, through Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, along the South Coast right round to Wales, where there exists many protest groups opposing both the SMP and the offshore dredging that is the basic cause of loss of coastline. There are many such, and erosion wherever offshore aggregate is ongoing.
When the SMP for the English East Coast was put out for consultation in 2006 over 2,400 people responded. Of these, only six were in favour of the proposals, four ‘didn’t know’ whilst 2,390 were totally against. That’s a 99.9% refusal. Yet it was enforced by being steamrollered through regardless.
