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It was up to my waist, in that room there. The storms keep raging. There | :00:08. | :00:17. | |
is no end in sight. Can we afford to keep the sea out at all cost. If you | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
invest three times what we do now, that is what is needed. Do you know | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
what the cost is? We recognise the demand is going to grow. Stark plans | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
have been drawn for another option, where some communities might have to | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
be abandoned. The cost of defending this place would be too high. Who | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
would buy a house in a flails they know didn't going to be there in 20 | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
years time. The shoreline is retreating. You can see it with your | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
own eyes. Let's wake up and smell the coffee, as they say. | :00:50. | :01:13. | |
NEWS REEL: With are having a wonderful time | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
here. Wish you were here. Yesterday we went to see the little railway at | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
Fairbourne. Fairbourne is famous for its light | :01:23. | :01:34. | |
railway and happy holiday memories. A community of homes and businesses | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
at the mouth of the Mawddach estuary. They're already working to | :01:39. | :01:41. | |
get the main attraction ready for another busy season. It's not just | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
the way railway that's in need of maintenance. Like other coastal | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
communities, the winter storms have taken their toll. Sonia Norton moved | :01:50. | :01:58. | |
to Fairbourne 14 years ago. Just liked the house. Looked at several, | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
looked at Llanbedr and Dyffryn and various places. I just liked this | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
house as soon as I came into it. When you have storms, how dramatic | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
does it get? It's lovely. I go up on the top to see it. It's brilliant. | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
It's lovely. Really stormy weather is really good to look at. January, | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
the storm came much closer to home. This is from the front, the very | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
first instant when it came over. It gradually got worse and worse as the | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
morning went on. That's the bit between the two houses. It was like | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
the sea, wasn't it? You're looking at it completely there. That's the | :02:36. | :02:38. | |
bamboo there, look. That's how deep it was at that point. The flooding | :02:39. | :02:45. | |
that you've just suffered? Yes. Did that come as a shock? I didn't | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
think... I mean, I could see it splashing over at the other end of | :02:50. | :02:52. | |
the road there. You could see it very clearly coming over there. | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
We've had sprewn and things like that blowing over when the tide is | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
high. I didn't really expect it to come over, no. When you think that | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
those dragon's teeth and pill box have been there since the Second | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
World War without any disturbance. It was a very, you know, one-off | :03:11. | :03:17. | |
thing, I'm sure. Fairbourne isn't just threatened by the sea. It's | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
also at risk from the river estuary and from water running off the | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
mountains behind. ?6 million has been spent on defences, but as | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
conditions deteriorate, what will it take to keep it and other coastal | :03:29. | :03:30. | |
towns safe? Wales's coastal communities have | :03:31. | :03:47. | |
taken a pounding. Before Christmas, in January, and again this month. | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
After the storms, the clean-up. It's a nice day on the beach today, | :03:52. | :04:10. | |
a month ago the coast of Wales was battered by some of the worst storms | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
we've seen in years. Here in Aberystwyth, the clearing up goes | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
on. As weather patterns change, the big question is - how are we going | :04:22. | :04:30. | |
to defend our shores in future? There are hundreds of communities | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
clustered around our coasts. For many, a home by the sea is the | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
dream. According to National Resources Wales, more than 62,000 | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
homes are at risk of flooding. This winter, the risk became reality in | :04:46. | :04:47. | |
Rhyl. This is Ivy and Barry Marson's | :04:48. | :05:03. | |
temporary home. They have been here since Christmas because in early | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
December their dream bungalow was flooded by the sea. Nice to meet | :05:07. | :05:14. | |
you. It was a Thursday. We got up, my daughter took us shopping. | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
Dropped us in Morrisons. My daughter's next door neighbour, Ali | :05:20. | :05:26. | |
came, I said, "she is looking ever so worried, I wonder if something is | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
the matter". She said "your bungalow is flooded." I says, "flooded has | :05:33. | :05:41. | |
the washer gone?" He said "no, it's the sea." I said, "no, I can't | :05:42. | :05:49. | |
believe that." We stood the opposite side of the road. When I saw... Did | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
see it, I've never had such an experience in my life. I just had a | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
cold, shakey feeling and I just couldn't stop crying. Did the issue | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
about flooding ever come up at the time when you bought it? No. No-one | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
mentioned flooding at all. It was never, never even thought about. | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
Because they had built up some of the walls up and put all those rocks | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
by the splash point. Whether that was going to do anything, I don't | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
know. No, I was just so happy to be there, in a nice little bungalow, by | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
the sea, which, to us, was a dream come true. Ivy's road is now full of | :06:28. | :06:37. | |
skips. She can't bear to see it. The builders are in and home won't be | :06:38. | :06:39. | |
home again until August. Ivy's daughter, Chrissie, was there | :06:40. | :06:50. | |
when the house flooded. It was up to my waist in that room there. In | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
here, I would imagine it was about to there. To there. It would have | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
totally ruined everything in this room up to that height? Everything. | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
Everything. It just creeped in. It got deeper and deeper. It just | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
seemed to be going on and on in a matter of seconds. You must have | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
been frantic? Frantic or adrenaline. We just wanted to try and save as | :07:16. | :07:18. | |
much as we could, that we could pick up. We couldn't pick nothing up, it | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
was all under water by then. It frightened you? Yes, certainly, it | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
has. Because what if it had happened in the middle of the night? I | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
wouldn't be here now. I would be in a wooden box in the cemetery. | :07:33. | :07:45. | |
There are vulnerable communities all along the North Wales coast. One | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
local councillor has been campaigning for years for more | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
sophisticated defences to keep people safe. As far as the coast are | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
concerned, people living here are in the front-line. If 's a rearguard | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
action, armies don't leave their troops, they don't abond o -- | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
abandon them. The Government has to get behind our residents here and | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
help them. We have seen what the sea is capable of doing. The indications | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
are that it's only going to get worse. We have talked to the | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
residents here, they don't want massively high defences here. The if | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
you did that, of course, the consequences, if there is ever a | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
breach, would be even more enormous. It's about creating space for water | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
throughout to the sea, but also using that space in a creative way. | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
In the the winter storms, North Wales was first to be hit, but there | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
was plenty more to come. All around our coasts, sea defences have been | :08:43. | :08:51. | |
battered. In Aberystwyth, Barmouth, Aberdovey, Newgale and here in | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
Fairbourne. For Sonia Norton, it's the first real evidence of her | :08:58. | :09:00. | |
vulnerability. So before you moved here, you lived up a mountain? Yes. | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
How far up a mountain? 650 feet. When you decided to move here, what | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
attracted you to Fairbourne? Flat land really, because Frank being | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
ill. Yes. Husband? Yes. Better access, yes. That was, basically, | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
it. He didn't think I could manage up on the mountain by myself. We | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
knew it would be by myself, he was ill at that point. The issue of | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
flooding or being at risk at all occur to you? No, not at that time. | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
It didn't, no. Maybe I was putting my head in the sand. But, no, I had | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
other things to think about at the time. Had you -- had you your time | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
over, would you move here again, knowing what you know? Knowing what | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
I know now, no, possibly not, now I'm here, I don't have any | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
alternative. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. There's no point. | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
What is the point of worrying about it? Some people here, as elsewhere, | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
comfort themselves with the thought that this was a rare, one-off. But | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
the problem is, our climate is changing. Professor Mike Phillips | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
has been studying sea levels in Wales and across the world. We know | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
the sea levels are rising. That isn't a doubt. We know the climate | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
is warming. That's not in doubt. The only debate is the cause of it. But, | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
we have to adapt. One of the things that we're losing. We're losing the | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
natural resilience of the coastline to respond to storms and sea level | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
rise. We have been losing sand dune systems. We have been losing wetland | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
areas, not just here, worldwide. And, by building on the coastline, | :10:43. | :10:54. | |
we've caused the problem ourselves. Aberystwyth promenade, the town's | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
main attraction, and at this point, it's only defence against the sea. | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
Battered and torn to pieces, homes and businesses were also hit. Local | :11:04. | :11:11. | |
people volunteered to help with the clean-up. Structural repairs are the | :11:12. | :11:19. | |
problem of the county's engineers. It Rhodri Llwyd's job to supervise | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
the clearup and understand why Aberystwyth suffered so badly. Was | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
an inspection last November, what did that find? Very minor issues. | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
You know, missing pointing here and there. Some missing stone work. | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
Those were rectified in December. So, you know, it was a bit of a | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
surprise when the scale of damage that we found in January then. You | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
weren't looking at it as a sea wall, infect? As things stand at the | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
moment it is the promenade. It was built in the 1920s and 1930s, as | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
such it was built as a promenade. It provides some coastal defence | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
function, it wasn't really built for that purpose. Even before the | :11:59. | :12:05. | |
January events, we were looking at a scheme of coastal defence works for | :12:06. | :12:08. | |
Aberystwyth. That's something we will be taking on into the future | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
now. The race was on to repair the damage from January's storm. In | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
time, for the February spring tides. They made it just in time. On | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
February 1st, it all happened again, another storm brought waves crashing | :12:23. | :12:23. | |
over the promenade. Many of the buildings on the | :12:24. | :12:43. | |
promenade have been evacuated and students have been sent home. Until | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
sea defences are put in place many people in Aberystwyth are bound to | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
wonder how many more times they will have to go through this in future. | :12:52. | :13:00. | |
Just a short distance to the north is Borth. And the January storm hit | :13:01. | :13:12. | |
hard here too. We had various waves that were coming through the top and | :13:13. | :13:23. | |
we had a series of waves coming from this crime and the water was meeting | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
in the middle and getting higher by the minute. On the Monday morning at | :13:28. | :13:36. | |
high tide we had one that actually hit the window sills across the back | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
of the restaurant and that was the one way I really did hold my breath | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
for a few seconds. I thought we were going to get severely flooded. | :13:47. | :13:53. | |
You've got tables and benches. Luckily, I type them all together on | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
the Thursday night. Some people thought I was crazy and that the let | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
-- water would not get that high but it was a good job I did. Borth | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
survived the storm because a new sea defence has just been built. Large | :14:09. | :14:11. | |
boulders hold an artificial shingle beach in place which broke the power | :14:12. | :14:23. | |
of the waves. Your house literally backs onto the beach. You can see | :14:24. | :14:34. | |
all the rock. This has been imported to give you some sort of defence but | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
what happened on the night of the storm? The storm pushed the shingle | :14:38. | :14:45. | |
on the beach protecting the village up against the houses. The effect of | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
that was quite staggering. The sea was powerful but on the other hand | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
if we had not had this bank it might have been a lot worse. The top of | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
the old defence is barely visible. Many people here believe it wouldn't | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
have protected them. The new shingle defences were built just in time. | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
The look of it is not that good and I sympathise with that view but on | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
the other hand, it is a cost and benefit thing. If it does not look | :15:20. | :15:26. | |
as nice and what was your before but it protects us better, I can live | :15:27. | :15:34. | |
with that. Defences like this might be a solution for other communities | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
in Wales. Japp Flikweert is an engineer with an international | :15:39. | :15:41. | |
reputation, who's travelled the world dealing with the aftermath of | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
disasters. He advised the US Army Corps how to build safer defences | :15:46. | :15:48. | |
for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Now his firm is heading a | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
plan to rebuild beaches across North Wales. Where we are now, there is a | :15:53. | :16:02. | |
benefit at looking at softer defences. Here, they have built up | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
the beach to have both the flood defence benefit and the regeneration | :16:10. | :16:20. | |
benefit. Having the beach in front of this really has an effect on the | :16:21. | :16:23. | |
waves coming in and reduces the damage a storm would cause. But all | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
defences come at the price. The Borth shingle beaches cost ?13.5 | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
million to build and an 18 month to construct. It's meant to move, but | :16:33. | :16:36. | |
one big storm moved it all in one night. We were not expecting to be | :16:37. | :16:45. | |
18 months after completing the scheme or that so much shingle would | :16:46. | :16:52. | |
have moved in that time. That is on top of general maintenance. We were | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
expecting to have a machine here for a couple of days but given the | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
events in early January, we are here for a lot longer. Welsh Councils | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
estimate it will cost them ?10.5 million just to clean up and repair | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
their sea defences after the recent storms. So far they have been | :17:09. | :17:11. | |
offered ?3.6 million by the Welsh Government. But the cost of | :17:12. | :17:14. | |
defending our coasts in the long term is an even bigger challenge. | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
For Wales in particular, there have been calculations done a few years | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
ago which suggest that if you would invest three times as much as you do | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
now, that is what would be needed to sustain the same level of risks. If | :17:29. | :17:36. | |
you don't increase your investment, the risk would increase. If you | :17:37. | :17:44. | |
increase your investment for times, you would get reduction of risk that | :17:45. | :17:51. | |
the benefits of that would outstrip the costs. So if we want to stand | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
still and maintain the defences we've got, we would have to spend | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
three times more than we are doing? Yes, that's right. And if we don't | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
match that figure, what is the consequence? More households at | :18:09. | :18:16. | |
risk. More people at risk. The Welsh Government say flood defence is a | :18:17. | :18:19. | |
priority, but can they afford to defend all communities in the | :18:20. | :18:27. | |
future? The Minister the natural resources is Alun Davies. We are | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
spending ?240 million across the whole of Wales. If you look at what | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
we need we could spend that twice or three times over protecting homes | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
and properties and businesses and communities across Wales. Do you | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
have a global figure about what the cost is? The demand is going to grow | :18:48. | :18:54. | |
in the future. The sort of investments we are making need to be | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
far more resilient and robust than perhaps we would have assumed a | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
decade ago. Financing sea defences is a problem is net? We already have | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
a risk register and we have an investment plan which I will be | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
revising later this year. The problem is the economics don't add | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
up. Currently, the formula used to decide what should be spent in Wales | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
is based on ?1 million worth of defence to protect ?6 million worth | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
of property. And that means that in future, in financial terms, not | :19:29. | :19:31. | |
every community will be worth defending. For some, the shore | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
management plans for the whole of Wales make tough reading. Including | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
here in Borth. We live in a vulnerable community and the future | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
is uncertain. At least we are safeguarded for the time being | :19:50. | :19:57. | |
however long that is, but a little further north where the golf courses | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
and the dune system at, that is now a little more suspect and I'm not | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
sure what will happen there in the near future. In the short term we | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
are holding the lines and localise repairs but in the longer term, it | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
would be about realignment and will have to have discussions to discuss | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
the most sustainable way of defending this coastline. We don't | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
foresee any major capital investment. It's not just golf | :20:30. | :20:38. | |
courses that are at risk of losing their defences. It's communities | :20:39. | :20:46. | |
too. Communities like Fairbourne. The Seawall here at Fairbourne is | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
the front line of the argument. And from here it's clear to see how | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
vulnerable this community is. But already, the authorities are being | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
advised they cannot defend this community at all cost, because that | :20:59. | :21:07. | |
cost is too high. In future, it will have to be abandoned. The Shoreline | :21:08. | :21:16. | |
plan says after 2025 there will be no new or improved defences, and by | :21:17. | :21:19. | |
2055 everyone will be expected to have gone. Deadlines may slip, but | :21:20. | :21:25. | |
their initial assessment is it's a matter of when, not if, a critical | :21:26. | :21:33. | |
threshold is reached. The enormity of what's being suggested hasn't | :21:34. | :21:36. | |
been lost on the manager of the town's main attraction. I would hope | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
that it would be a gradual process and that they will talk to the local | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
residents and businesses in plenty of time before any kind of process | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
takes place. Any kind of policy that declares there is a cut off point is | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
inevitably going to make house values in the area drop. Could you | :21:57. | :22:05. | |
get a mortgage? It is a difficult judgement call somebody is going to | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
have to make because somebody is going to make themselves very | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
unpopular by saying no more. Ten years will probably see me out. It | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
is not good for Fairbourne as a thriving community because it. | :22:21. | :22:27. | |
People buying in nearly. For the people who are already here, they | :22:28. | :22:34. | |
will probably lasted out. -- last it out. One public meeting has been | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
held in Fairbourne but few attended. Local councillors want people to be | :22:38. | :22:40. | |
aware but may need convincing themselves. There are different | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
opinions. Some people say we have survived the biggest storm surge in | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
living memory and nothing happened. Nobody died, nobody is hurt and | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
there are other people in the village who think, oh no, what is | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
going to happen? We have to face facts. Sooner or later, whether it | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
is 100 years from now or 50 years from now, something might have to | :23:07. | :23:13. | |
happen and you might have to be prepared for that. Eventually the | :23:14. | :23:23. | |
sea will reclaim this land. But it all depends on how the sea rises. I | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
am not giving up the fight because it is all hypothetical. In the past | :23:29. | :23:35. | |
hundred years of the sea has risen 100 millimetres. If that is the | :23:36. | :23:43. | |
case, we will be here for the next 300 years. The shoreline management | :23:44. | :23:50. | |
plan for this area has indicated that 360 millilitres which is a | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
reasonable figure from research I have carried out personally, it | :23:55. | :24:00. | |
means the cost of defending this place would be too high. After ten | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
years the policy will switch to withdrawal. That will be a major | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
problem for the people in the village. People have worked all | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
their lives to buy a property and I don't know what their reaction to be | :24:17. | :24:23. | |
if they had to walk away from it. We would protect our railway lines and | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
other road systems and our high-value economic infrastructure. | :24:28. | :24:35. | |
But communities like this? It is a difficult political decision because | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
the properties that are built here then become blighted. Gwynedd | :24:40. | :24:42. | |
Council adopted the Shoreline Management plan last year. The | :24:43. | :24:53. | |
important thing is that we have an honest discussion and we tell people | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
the facts and we face them and say this is the plan we have to deal | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
with that. What is the plan? The plan is to try and sustain the | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
position in the short-term but in that managed retreat and will have | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
to look at the future of that community. I recognise people are | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
going to be in a difficult position but we cannot leave them on their | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
own and we have to support them in the future. That will mean looking | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
at what the financial cases and looking at matters in terms of their | :25:27. | :25:33. | |
homes and businesses. Are we talking about compensation of some sort? I | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
am not going to come up with that sort of scheme here because it is a | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
matter of detailed discussion with the Welsh Government but we will | :25:44. | :25:51. | |
need to do that. There are 50 communities listed in the Shoreline | :25:52. | :25:54. | |
Management plans for Wales which have been earmarked for some form of | :25:55. | :25:57. | |
managed retreat. In Newgale, Pembrokeshire, that's already begun. | :25:58. | :26:00. | |
Others like Fairbourne are due to begin in ten years, and 40 years | :26:01. | :26:03. | |
from now, Borth and others are scheduled to follow suit. At the | :26:04. | :26:13. | |
moment, managed retreat is not part of our policy. We want to manage | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
shore defences in different ways. That is a big point. Manage retreat | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
is not part of our long-term strategy. Is that the case? Yes. You | :26:25. | :26:39. | |
can't do everything everywhere. What happens to those communities that | :26:40. | :26:42. | |
will be blighted the moment it comes out they cannot be protected in the | :26:43. | :26:58. | |
future? I am not buying the assumption you are making. It is a | :26:59. | :27:08. | |
matter for local authorities. It means I am not buying your | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
assumption on that issue. The Welsh Government has the final say on | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
approval for Shoreline Management plans, but it's the councils and NRW | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
that work on the detail. We understand they do not anticipate | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
major changes. Winter storms are still battering our coastal | :27:27. | :27:29. | |
communities. In many ways this could have been worse. But we're not out | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
of the woods yet. Time perhaps for lessons to be learned. It is a good | :27:34. | :27:39. | |
thing we are doing this now because that should give us the time to | :27:40. | :27:46. | |
adapt society to this increasing risk. If you see it coming, use the | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
time of a generation to make the change. They are communities which | :27:51. | :27:58. | |
don't have much of a future. It is looking like it. This is a matter | :27:59. | :28:08. | |
for the Minister and the Welsh Government cause it is not unique to | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
this part of Wales. We have to come up with a vision of how we see the | :28:14. | :28:16. | |
coastline communities in Wales for the future. The minister says he | :28:17. | :28:19. | |
will announce his new plans later this year. But many on the front | :28:20. | :28:28. | |
line say time is running out. Humanity cannot always go on doing | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
what it thinks it can to hold any line anywhere. I think here they | :28:33. | :28:39. | |
have provided an answer. How long it will last, I am not entirely sure. | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
But hopefully it will last long enough. If they started saying you | :28:44. | :28:56. | |
have to evacuate, you are not going to get any value on the house and | :28:57. | :28:59. | |
you are not going to get compensation. You have to stick it | :29:00. | :29:03. | |
out. Should we as a society defend coastal communities like this | :29:04. | :29:11. | |
regardless of cost? That is a difficult one. Obviously, one would | :29:12. | :29:17. | |
like to think they will but in the real world, I don't think they will. | :29:18. | :29:22. |