Residents of Happisburgh, a village on the north Norfolk coast, are confronting the reality that their homes may soon be lost to the sea. Over the past 20 years, 34 properties have crumbled into the water due to coastal erosion, and Nicola Bayless fears hers will be next. The 47-year-old nurse and fitness instructor says she is devastated that she may have spent her last Christmas in the house where she raised her children and where her husband died.
Bayless moved to Beach Road 18 years ago, when her three-bedroom semi was in the middle of the street. Now, after relentless erosion linked to climate change, her home is the last before the cliff edge. Neighbours have already abandoned their properties as the cliffs beneath them collapsed. Bayless says the cliff is less than 50 metres from her house, and in some spots just 20 metres away. She expects to be forced to leave when it reaches 5 metres from the edge.
The house, bought by Bayless's parents for £76,000 in 2000 after a surveyor predicted it would last 150 years, is now considered worthless. Bayless will have to pay £2,000 for its demolition. She plans to move to a bungalow she rents out in the village, but this will mean losing rental income and she worries that property may also eventually be at risk.
Happisburgh, home to about 1,100 people, is particularly vulnerable because its cliffs are made of boulder clay that slumps when wet, and narrow beaches offer little protection against powerful North Sea waves. Authorities have tried wooden and concrete defences, but they fell into disrepair due to maintenance costs. In 2011, North Norfolk District Council used £3.2 million from the Pathfinder Project to buy nine at-risk homes at reduced prices and relocate a caravan park.
Bryony Nierop-Reading, 77, refused a £53,000 offer for her bungalow in 2013, and it later fell into the sea. She now lives next door to Bayless and expects her current home to suffer the same fate. She is setting up an action group to defend Happisburgh, saying she cannot turn her back on the problem. Malcolm Kerby, who helped set up the relocation project, says the community exists 'with the sword of Damocles hanging over its head'.
