Another Village Falling Into The Erosive Ocean - Except This One's In England - Independent

[hatrack]

The sign as you enter Skipsea is an immediate indication that something is wrong. "Danger," it reads. "Enter at your own risk." Just ahead, there is a huge hole in the middle of the road, blocking your path. The village of Skipsea sits, precariously, on Yorkshire's East Riding coastline – the fastest eroding coastline in Europe.

As 2008 begins, many of the villagers have a common new year's resolution: to leave their doomed village before their homes are washed into the sea. Official figures estimate that this coastline loses an average of 18 inches a year. The council estimates that 13 homes in the village will disappear in the next five years, with a further 78 likely to be lost by 2058.

But, worryingly, the residents of Skipsea, which has a population of just 600, say these estimates are far too optimistic. With 2007 being the worst year in recent memory, 2008 is generally regarded as make or break for those closest to the ever-receding cliff-face.

For Josephine and Colin Arnold this will almost certainly be the year they are forced to leave their home of 19 years. The couple moved to their 11-room farmhouse in May 1988 to set up a business in the village, which is a popular tourist destination. They bought the house with an acre of land and opened a restaurant, a campsite, a caravan park and a holiday cottage. But in just 19 years the land behind their home, which once stretched back 100 feet, has shrunk to six feet.

EDIT

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3315032.ece

[ben_meyers]

1. What is your take on this?

I see your posts quite often, but I'm not always sure what to make of them. In this case I read the original article and it seems to indicate that eroding coastlines have been happening here for years. That makes sense to me, water has a way of doing that.

What's the point of this post?

[Nihil]

2. Not wishing to speak for Hatrack ...

... but my view on it is both the generic "faster than expected" side:

> With 2007 being the worst year in recent memory ...
+
> "I've lived here for the past 14 years and more of the coast has washed
> away in the past two years than ever before. I can only see it getting
> worse," she said.

... and the "man's interference with systems he doesn't understand" side:

> The couple say that the problem of erosion intensified in the early 1990s
> when a developer was given permission by the local council to build sea
> defences along the coast.
>
> The Arnolds refused to sell their land to the developer, meaning that
> their property was the only one not protected.
>
> Mrs Arnold, 56, added: "In our opinion the defences were never going to
> work and that's why we didn't sell the land. And we were right because
> they have since fallen down. But when they were built it was a disaster
> for us.
>
> "The experts say that about one foot falls off the cliffs every year,
> but when those defences went up we sat and watched about 18 feet wash away
> in 20 minutes. Because we were the only ones without a sea defence all the
> water was channelled towards our house."

So, although you are correct that "eroding coastlines have been happening
here for years", the points I took from this post are that
1) It's happening faster than expected
&
2) People f*cking around with short-term "fixes" might make their own
profits better but they also make the underlying problem worse.

YMMV. :hi: