THESE HOMES ARE ABOUT TO COLLAPSE INTO THE SEA. THEIR RESIDENTS WON’T LEAVE
When Steve Oliver moved to Hemsby, Norfolk, from Northampton nine years ago, he couldn’t see the sea from his house over the rolling dunes beyond his garden.
Fast forward to this week, and his home was perched on the edge of a cliff. On Thursday, he removed the last of his things and looked away as it began to be demolished.
Oliver, who is 64, says he was given just 24 hours by Great Yarmouth Borough Council to clear his possessions and narrowly avoided having to pay for the destruction of his property – one of more than a dozen in the area facing imminent collapse due to coastal erosion, accelerated by recent stormy weather.
“Yesterday, when I came back to the house in darkness, there was a Section 78 [demolition] notice on my doorstep with a rock on top,” he says.
“I’ve been to the council – they said, because of my pension, they can’t help [with housing]. They could give me emergency accommodation, but I would have to pay for it.
“When I got back last night, they’d had the power company disconnect my electricity. The heating wouldn’t work, there was no light, and I couldn’t pack anything.”
Great Yarmouth council’s coastal manager advised him that if he signed a voluntary demolition agreement, he wouldn’t be liable for the demolition or clear-up costs. So he did.
On Friday, the day after we spoke, the council contacted Steve to offer him accommodation in a retirement home in nearby Great Yarmouth.
There used to be 240 houses on this vulnerable stretch of coastline, where erosion can eat away at as much as four metres each night.
Over the past few years, they have been slowly disappearing or toppling into the sea – some 30 houses have been lost, or condemned and demolished, since 2013.
Some, like Steve’s, were wooden holiday chalets, but others, which may yet be demolished, are new builds.
This week, ahead of Storm Goretti, another 14 properties in the area, including Steve’s, were issued with demolition notices after inclement weather caused another 10m of the cliff to fall away. Of Steve’s neighbours, just one permanent resident remains.
People have been drawn to Hemsby for a variety of reasons. In Steve’s case, he retired from the police and wanted to make the most of the years he had left. He assumed the buffer he had against the sea would stand firm.
It was only two years ago, when the section of road leading to his house collapsed, that he began to feel as though he had the “Sword of Damocles” hanging over his head.
His neighbour, who does not wish to be named, moved here seeking “the quiet life”.
As she says this, the wind whips up from the beach and another tractor with a trailer full of demolition waste thunders past. “I haven’t exactly got what I pictured,” she jokes.
Critics may ask, “Why not just leave?” But for many who live, or have lived, here, it isn’t that simple. Steve recently went through a divorce and won’t be able to recoup the money from his house, with nowhere else to go. His neighbour has health issues and simply can’t afford to move.
Another local couple, Nicole and John*, simply wanted to downsize and live by the sea. Instead, they have ended up in a “living nightmare”.
The pair moved to the area from Hertfordshire in 2020, into an immaculate house that had been newly built just two years before. Given it had been granted planning permission, they believed the plot was safe for the forseeable future.
The pair insured it with no issues and even put a fence – “mostly for the grandkids” – and flood defences on the coastline beyond their garden. Defences which, so far, have held up, leaving them with a 10-metre buffer between their house and the sea.
On Thursday, they too received a letter from the council, simply addressed, “Dear Resident”, that they found screwed up in their letterbox. The correspondence, dated Jan 6, asked them to vacate the property and contained a voluntary demolition agreement. If it was not signed, “demolition of the property will then be arranged at the property owner’s cost”. So far, they have refused to leave.
“They really want us to sign the house over immediately,” says Nicole. “I can’t explain what a nightmare it is, I’ve hardly slept... We had a meeting with the [council]. It was horrible – they say that if we don’t sign over your house, they will demolish it and charge us. I said, ‘Well, you’ll have to get me out of it first.’”
Those who agree to a voluntary demolition can retain the planning rights associated with their property, which, for those who are able to afford it, can be used to “build a new property in an area outside of where you might ordinarily be able to build a property”, owing to the extraordinary circumstances. This right can also be sold to a developer.
But these options are of little comfort to John and Nicole, who ploughed their life savings into their new house when they downsized, in order to be mortgage-free. Now, they risk losing the lot.
“Apparently, you can sell the planning rights for about £15,000,” Nicole says. “That’s not even going to buy you half a kitchen.”
Further demolitions in the area should not come as a surprise – not when the coastline has been receding for decades and dozens of homes have already collapsed. But that has not stopped people from staying in their properties, or even new residents moving in.
Daniel Hurd has been a cox of Hemsby’s independent lifeboat for 23 years. In that time, “the coastline has completely changed”, he says.
“In 2013, there was a storm surge that basically lifted the lifeboat station up and snapped it in two... We built a new station, but looking at it, it could be compromised today or tomorrow.”
While another premises is found for the lifeboat station, Hurd has come up with an unorthodox solution – he plans to store one of the lifeboats (the smaller one) in his own garage.
This is where the true extent of erosion on Norfolk’s fragile coastline is laid bare.
Hemsby in particular has been ravaged by erosion, as its sandy cliffs provide little protection from the roiling North Sea. It has lost an estimated 300 metres of coastline over the past 50 years, which has had an impact not only on those who live on the seafront, but across the community.
“There are young children at school today who I’m told are breaking down in tears because it’s affecting them, as well,” says Hurd.
Many have argued that sea defences installed at nearby Sea Palling and Bacton – where there is a large gas terminal – have dramatically increased the rate of coastal erosion at Hemsby, as protecting one part of the coastline simply pushes the sea to whittle away another.
Planning permission was granted in 2023 for defences at Hemby, which would cost between £15m and £20m, but no funding was made available for the project. Its residents have since held fast to Labour’s promise of funding changes that would allow for the town to build its own sea defences. However, these changes are yet to materialise.
As Storm Goretti rolled in on Thursday night, Steve stayed with a neighbour – his last remaining neighbour – and Nicole and John had an uneasy night wondering if, as the council had warned, their home could suddenly plummet off a cliff.
Thankfully, it didn’t. “It was very stormy and very noisy, but nothing has moved,” Nicole says. “We haven’t looked over the edge yet,” she adds, but the garden is still intact. The question, however, is how much longer it can last.
“They are just going to let the erosion take its course,” she says. “Eventually, this whole road will be gone. The bottom line is that they are going to make us go – we don’t have a choice.”
A Great Yarmouth Borough Council spokesman said: “We have been liaising closely with people affected by erosion in Hemsby for some time, but the recent spate of storms and forecast of further damage from Storm Goretti means some properties are now in an even more precarious position.
“It is extremely traumatic for those affected, but coastal experts say there is a real risk of collapse. Making sure residents and the public are safe is of paramount importance, so we are working closely with owners to explain the risks, offer support and advice where necessary and detail the options available to people at this very difficult time.’’
*Names changed.
Recommended
Clifftop homes at risk of 'imminent collapse' as Storm Goretti hits
2026-01-09T17:25:49Z