UK - Demolition begins on five homes on crumbling Norfolk clifftop

The demolition of five seaside houses has begun in Norfolk after coastal erosion put them at risk of collapsing on to the beach below.

Distraught homeowners in Hemsby wrote farewell messages on their houses before workers began demolishing one house on Saturday. “Gone but not forgotten” was scrawled on one seafront property.

Hemsby has been badly affected by coastal erosion, and a storm last month caused the collapse of a stretch of a road, after which the council inspected properties in the Marrams and decided to demolish five.

Great Yarmouth borough council said the decision was taken because the properties were “not structurally sound and are unsafe”, and the demolitions took place with the owners’ permission.

Marie Smith, one of those whose property is under a demolition order, moved into temporary accommodation with her partner, Tim Clarke, and 11-year-old daughter on Friday after being given a week to leave the home she owns with Clarke.

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Read also

Holiday homes demolished as coastal erosion claims beachfront, and more from around the world, Daily Maverick / Dec 11, 2023

Erosion likely to force Waitaki Boys’ High School to move grounds, Ministry of Education report finds, New Zealand Herald / Dec 9, 2023

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Smith, 42, said that when she and her partner received the notice from the council, they were lost for words. “Me and partner didn’t know what to say, what to think or where to put ourselves. It was quite scary.”

Smith sent her daughter, who has special needs, to school as usual on Friday to try to limit the disruption to her. “When we moved all our stuff yesterday, that’s when it hit us most,” Smith said. “I did cry a lot yesterday.”

The family has lived in the home for almost three years, and Smith said that when they bought the property they were reassured they would be able to remain there for a decade and decided to take a chance on it.

But things changed quickly. “When you’ve got a storm, you’re on edge all the time, every bang, every wave – you don’t sleep. Then the storm took the road and that was it,” she said, referring to the loss of the access road in November.

She is among those backing a local campaign’s calls for sea defences. “They should have done the sea defences ages ago,” she said. “That’s what left us losing our home.”

The demolition comes after a legal challenge was launched last month by a disability rights activist, a person fighting to save his home, and the environmental group Friends of the Earth, who are taking the government to court over its climate adaptation plans.