by SWNS
‘My village is slipping into the sea and my house may be gone by Christmas’
A heartbroken mother fears her clifftop home will fall into the sea by Christmas – after 26ft (8m) of land was swept away in just a month. Nicola Bayless’s three-bed semi-detached in Happisburgh is now less than 50ft (15m) from the cliff after storms Babet and Ciaran ravaged the Norfolk coast in the autumn. And she worries her family’s £375,000 property could be gone by the end of December as the village teeters on the brink. Nicola, 48, said: “We haven’t even gone into winter, but because we’ve lost so much, we could be forced to leave in the spring or even before Christmas. It’s scary.” Her late parents, Anita and Arthur Richmond, bought Beacon House in 2001 when it was over 670ft (200m) from the edge of the cliff. They knew the property, which sat amongst the houses on Beach Road, would not be around forever as the government decided not to upgrade local sea defences. But since then, the sea has carved out huge chunks of the “cream cheese” like coastline, forcing dozens of local people to abandon their luxury properties. And Nicola, who moved into the property seven years ago, now fears her house will become ‘worthless’ to live in within a few months. The nurse said: “It’s heartbreaking and it’s scary if you let it take over your mind, it can bring you down mentally. “I’m not choosing to go and find somewhere new. it’s something I’m forced to do. I would stay here forever, but I’m not going to put myself at risk. “After Babet, four meters had gone. Then it was two more after Ciarán. But more has gone since then. So you are talking, in a month, seven to eight meters. “We used to have light competitions Having Christmas with our neighbors – how many lights could you get on your house It looked like Las Vegas at the bottom of the road. “It makes you sad that village life is also going away.” Nicola said she holidayed in the stunning Happisburgh area, famous for its red and white striped lighthouses, with her parents in the 1980s and 1990s. And during one of these memorable trips, they “fell in love” with Beacon House, which they went. bought for £76,000 more than 20 years ago Mum-of-two Nicola said her parents gave her the house in 2016 when she started a family, and they moved into their terraced house nearby and later a bungalow . , which has a huge 50m (164ft) back garden and annexe, will later be passed on to their grandchildren, but Nicola said the couple would be shocked to see the catastrophic loss of land that has taken place in the past five years. She said: “My parents said ‘He’ll see you out, he’ll see your kids out.’ “On the survey, they were told they had 150 years before the cliff would meet the house. That was incredible because of where it was. “But they’ve only been gone five years and in that time, you wouldn’t believe it. I think they would be very surprised if they ever went back and saw all of this because it’s crazy, absolutely crazy. Get down to it.” Nicola remembers how specific storms destroyed the coast near her property – and she used a tape measure to keep track of the erosion after each big swell. But the recent storms Babet and Ciarán, which struck in quick succession between October 18 and November 4, produced some of the worst landslides in recent memory. She said: “We had the ‘Beast From the East’ back in 2012. That was quite scary. You could see the sea coming up above the cliff “When we had Babet and Ciarán, the rain was worse. He fell straight down and poured away over the edge of the road. “One minute there was a foot of tarmac hanging out. The next moment, he was hanging six feet off. “About three hours later, I went down and the cliff was gone below. The next day, that was all gone. It was crazy. She said: “I felt a very loud bang last Thursday night [Nov 23], it was like a big thunderclap. I’m sure that was part of the falling cliff. “It’s just like cream cheese here really, it seems to disappear because it’s just clay and soil, no rocks. It feels like it’s being carved.” Nicola said she was told by her local council that her “first priority” was now to relocate after more storms battered the coast last weekend. But she knows that the money that could be given to her for the transfer will not be close to the real value of the property if it was located on more solid ground. She said: “A place of the same size as mine with a garden and an annex – it would probably be £375,000 or more if it were anywhere else. So I’m not going to get that. “[The cliff] less than 15 meters from the house now. The local authorities are talking to us and preparing for us and they are going to help us. “But I don’t know how much money they’re going to help out. “They’re keeping their cards close to their chests, which is fair enough because you can’t promise something you can’t deliver. “For the people who went in 2012, it barely touched the cost of their home.” Some were put into local authority housing, paying rent, while others bought a hell of a lot less places.” Nicola said it was particularly difficult to leave the town because it was where her husband Steve died at aged 42 after suffering a heart failure. unable to return to their home in later years. She said: “Losing your home is like another unfortunate process. “One of my children was born here, and during in that time, a whole road has gone. It’s crazy that they will be able to stand on the beach and say ‘This is where my house used to be’. Rob Goodliffe, coastal transition manager from North Norfolk District Council, said his team at work with Nicola to find ‘solutions’ and offer support. explore their situations and what kind of support might help them.” We are working hard to help them find solutions and provide them with support. “We are very grateful to be in the position we are in with the Coastwise program which will allow us to work with communities to explore future options to prepare for coastal change and start delivering practical activities.” Through this scheme, however, we are unable to provide compensation for the loss of homes, which has been the position of successive governments for a long time. “The Council is sympathetic and caring to Nicola, the residents others and the affected communities along our coast and we look forward to working with them to help them transition to coastal change.”
