In developing SOS’s wider aims, we have been contacting other coastal groups in the UK, to learn from their experience. In particular we have established a close contact with the people of Happisburgh, in North Norfolk. Their coastal campaigner, Malcolm Kirby, visited Selsey during the year and we were able to compare notes.
Happisburgh suffered from November’s storm surge in the North Sea. We stand by small communities like Malcolm’s with our demands for fair treatment of people and a just solution to the problem of coast defence. The current government methods of deciding if a coast is worth protecting do not properly take into account the value of properties or jobs that might be threatened, nor the overall effects on community wellbeing that come from seeing houses lost or blighted by a policy of abandonment.
We are keenly aware that if smaller coastal communities can work together, our collective voice will be louder and we will be able to achieve more, particularly when it comes to lobbying government.
