Villagers air Broads flood plan anger
(Eastern Daily Press, 10 April 2008)
The scale of anger in Broads villages threatened by a government proposal to leave them to the mercy of the sea was evident again tonight at another packed public meeting.
The village hall at Potter Heigham can rarely if ever have been filled with so many people. An estimated 400 turned out, leaving the hall bursting at the seams and with many people forced to stand outside and listen through open windows and the back door.
One speaker said the importance of writing letters of protest should not be underestimated, pointing out there was an important precedent in the very village where last night's meeting was held.
The speaker said that some 20 years ago academics had "suggested clearing the bungalows on the River Thurne", which are a main feature of Potter Heigham.
"It generated the most letters the local authority had ever seen," said the speaker.
"The people who have proposed this latest idea have no common sense whatsoever. The people who have common sense will see them off."
There was more than one example mentioned during the meeting of people who had lost house sales as a direct result of the Natural England proposal being uncovered by the EDP a fortnight ago. And there was criticism of the EDP's coverage of the story, with some speakers insisting the plans were likely to be so many years away they should not be put into such a high profile media spotlight.
Other speakers mentioned the possible intervention of Europe, including an unanswered question about the level of involvement of the region's MEPs.
One speaker suggested one of the reasons behind the controversial proposal was "that's because we don't vote Labour".
The Potter Heigham meeting was the second of three, the first was at Hickling on Tuesday evening and the last will be held in Sea Palling next Tuesday.
The meetings were called by the Happisburgh based Coastal Concern Action Group and North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb as a sounding board to allow them to make further representations with the agencies involved.