The British village is sliding into the sea - and the authorities do nothing (12 photos + 1 video)

Residents of a British village are fighting the authorities to save their homes. In recent years, several houses here have slipped into the sea due to coastal erosion, and many have lost their homes. Another 100 houses are under threat. The authorities first drew up a rescue plan - and then said they would not be able to finance it.





Residents of the English village of Hemsby in Norfolk, affected by coastal erosion, are fighting with local authorities. The landslide has left a couple of houses on the edge of a cliff and "sliding" into the sea - and another 100 houses are at risk as the coastline continues to erode. The government initially drew up a home protection plan and released a draft, but later said it would not be able to finance it.



Local authorities say inflation has increased the cost of the project from £15 million to £20 million and they are now unable to provide financial support. They took bank protection measures and installed stones in places most susceptible to erosion - and warned residents that the destruction of their houses was inevitable. But local residents, of whom there are 3,600 in the village, could not remain silent and began to fight for their rights.





People believe that their village has been “abandoned to the mercy of fate” and are demanding more drastic measures be taken to save their houses. They have banded together to form Save Hemsby Coastline, a campaign to save the village - and are raising funds and resources to legally challenge the funding denial. Locals say that they are afraid to live in houses that could slide into the sea at any moment. Some houses have already been demolished, but others refuse to leave their homes.

"This was my favorite house and I don't support it, I don't want to move. It's terrible. I was shocked when I first heard about the demolition and burst into tears," says Mary Withey, an elderly local resident who has lived in the building for four years. village.



“Many neighbors suffer from hopelessness. I try to keep a smile on my face. I’m not broken yet. I continue to live - there’s no one to blame, you just have to accept it and move on,” says 65-year-old retiree Lance Martin, who back in 2018 pulled my house away from the shore due to erosion.



Another resident, Mandy Jephcoat, bought a two-bedroom house here for £75,000 and expected to live in it until she was old. But since then, she could only watch in horror as her house slowly slipped into the sea. Over the past year, about 7 meters of the woman's garden collapsed into the sea. And there are many such cases in the village, and soon there may be hundreds.



Here's what the houses looked like before and after (2007 and 2023):