Hope lives on for Welsh villagers under threat from climate change

Solutions are being considered to mitigate the serious flood risk threatening a coastal village. Owen Hughes reports

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THE villagers of Fairbourne in Gwynedd were once tipped to be the UK's first "climate refugees" as they faced a three-pronged flood threat.

This tag was first applied when Cyngor Gwynedd said in 2014 it would not maintain flood defences indefinitely as global sea levels rose.

At that point some gave it three decades, with Natural Resources Wales identifying 2054 as a potential tipping point.

The "curse" of Fairbourne was the flood risks it faced from the sea, from the nearby Afon Mawddach, and because the land is so low, a flood risk from the groundwater.

There were plans to "decommission" the entire village, dismantling homes, roads, shops and infrastructure and turn it back into marshland.

Villagers would have become the first Welsh community to be driven from their homes since Capel Celyn, near Bala, was flooded in the 1960s to provide water to Liverpool.

In response, the community rallied rather than resign themselves to their watery fate.

Since then the message from officialdom has been less definitive, with hope that solutions to mitigate and manage the ever-increasing flood risk can be found.

The Western Mail approached Natural Resources Wales and Cyngor Gwynedd to ascertain what the current situation is and how they are planning for the future.

NRW said it is set to undertake an appraisal that it hopes will provide options - and importantly, costings.