by SWNS
‘My town is sinking into the sea and my house could disappear by Christmas’
A heartbroken mother fears her clifftop home could fall into the sea by Christmas, after 26ft (8m) of land was washed away in just a MONTH. Nicola Bayless’ three-bedroom semi in Happisburgh now sits less than 15m (50ft) from the cliff after Storms Babet and Ciaran devastated the Norfolk coast in the autumn. And she worries her family’s £375,000 estate could disappear at the end of December as the town teeters on the brink. Nicola, 48, says: “We haven’t reached winter yet, but as we have lost so much, we could be forced to leave in spring or even before Christmas. It’s frightening”. Her late parents, Anita and Arthur Richmond, originally purchased Beacon House in 2001, when it was more than 200 meters (670 feet) away from the cliff’s edge. They knew the property, nestled between houses on Beach Road, would not exist forever as the government decided not to improve local sea defences. But since then, the sea has carved out huge swaths of “cream cheese” coastline, forcing dozens of locals to abandon their luxury properties. And Nicola, who moved into the property seven years ago, now fears her “useless” home could become uninhabitable in just a few months. The nurse said: “It’s heartbreaking and scary if you let it take over your mind, it can make you mentally depressed. “I don’t choose to go find a new place. It’s something they force me to do. I would stay here forever, but I’m not going to put myself at risk. “After Babet four meters disappeared. After Ciarán there were another two groupers. But since then more have disappeared. So we are talking, in a month, of seven to eight meters. “We used to have Christmas light contests with our Neighbors: how many lights you could turn on in your house. It looked like Las Vegas at the end of the street. “It makes you sad that village life is disappearing too.” Nicola said she had been on holiday in the idyllic area of Happisburgh, famous for its red-striped lighthouses and white, with their parents during the 1980s and 1990s. And during one of these memorable trips, they “fell in love” with Beacon House, which they went to. She bought it for £76,000 more than 20 years ago. Nicola, mother of two children, said his parents gave him the house in 2016 when he started a family, while they moved into their nearby semi-detached house and then a bungalow, which has a huge 50-metre (164 ft) back garden and an annex She said: “My parents had said: ‘It will accompany you and your children.’ “In the survey, they were told that they were 150 years old before the cliff reached the house. That was quite believable given where she 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. “It’s climate change and the weather getting worse, and stuff like that, that’s all I can attribute it to.” . Nicola remembers how specific storms destroyed the shoreline near her property and she has used a tape measure to track the erosion after each big wave. But recent storms Babet and Ciarán, which struck in quick succession between October 18 and November 4, caused some of the worst landslides in recent memory. She said: “We had the ‘Beast from the East’ in 2012. That was pretty scary. You could even see the sea rising over the cliff. “When we had Babet and Ciarán, the worst thing was the rain. He just tipped it over and it slid off the edge of the road. “Within a minute there was a foot of asphalt hanging. The next minute, there were two meters hanging. “About three hours later, I came down and the cliff had broken away from below. The next day all that was gone. It was crazy. And she added: “I felt a very strong blow on Thursday night. [Nov 23], it sounded like a big thunderclap. I’m sure that was part of the cliff fall. “It really is like cream cheese here, it just seems to disappear because it’s just clay and dirt, there are no rocks. It just feels like it’s being carved.” Nicola said her local council told her she was now her “first priority” for relocation after storms further devastated the coast last weekend. But she is aware that the money she could get for the move will be nowhere near the real value of the property if she were on firmer ground. She said: “A property my size with a garden and an annexe; it would probably cost £375,000 or more if it were anywhere else. So I’m not going to understand that. “[The cliff] Now it is less than 15 meters from the house. The local authorities are talking to us, preparing us and they are going to help. “But I don’t know how much they’re going to help us financially. “They keep their cards close to their chests, which is fair enough because you can’t promise something you can’t deliver. But they We are very, very closed in this regard. “For the people who went in 2012, it was barely anything for the cost of their house. “Some were housed in council housing, paying rent, and others bought much smaller. “Nicola said it was particularly difficult to leave the house as it was the place where her late husband Steve died at the age of 42 after suffering from heart failure. And she was also faced with the fact that her children would never be able to return to their home. home in her later years. She said: “Losing your home is like another grieving process. “One of my kids was born here, and in that time, he’s come a long way. It’s absolutely crazy that they can stand on the beach and say, ‘This is where my house was.’ It’s really quite surreal.” Rob Goodliffe, coastal transition manager at North Norfolk District Council, said his team was working with Nicola to find “solutions” and offer support: “We recently met with Nicola and other residents at imminent risk of erosion in Happisburgh to Explore their situations and what kind of support can 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 programme, which will allow us to work with communities to explore options for the future to prepare for coastal change and begin to implement practical actions. “However Through this scheme, we are unable to provide compensation for the loss of homes, as has been the position of successive governments over a long period of time. “The Council has empathy and sympathy for Nicola, the other residents and the affected communities along our coast and we look forward to working with them to help the transition towards coastal change.”
