Fairbourne’s flood awareness event – held on Friday 29th August 2014 – was well attended with almost 70 people from the community coming along to speak to members of the Fairbourne: Moving Forward project.
The project, which is a partnership between Welsh Government, Gwynedd Council, Natural Resources Wales, Royal Haskoning and which collaborates with the local Fairbourne Facing Change group, has been established to support the community through the process of Managed Realignment of it’s coastline, over the next 100 years.
The ‘surgery-style’ event had experts from the project on hand and attendees were able to raise their concerns and ask questions. Some of the important topics covered included insurance renewals, paying for care, property valuations, ground water & coastal monitoring and future maintenance and future resilience of the Network Rail rail track.
Feedback from those who attended was excellent, with over 83% of people staying they were ‘more informed’ upon leaving.
Huw Williams from Gwynedd Council and Fairbourne: Moving Forward, said:
“The event proved to be very positive and we are grateful to all who attended to learn more about the West of Wales Shoreline Management Plan and how it relates to the communities of Fairbourne, Arthog and Friog.
“In particular, we were pleased to have the opportunity to re-assure residents that, based on the best available scientific evidence, that it can and will be possible to defend Fairbourne from severe flooding for the next 40 years. This forecast will be reviewed if there is a very severe storm and as new scientific information about sea and ground water level rises become available and as flood defence techniques are improved.
“It is essential that these issues are highlighted now and are discussed openly with the community at all levels. In this way, individuals and businesses can be part of the process and can start to plan for their future.
The project will be hosting another community event to keep everyone fully brief and updated, prior to December 2014 but in the meantime, further information relating to the project can be found at www.fairbourne.info.
