A woman who has lost half of her garden to the sea has said she has no plans to go anywhere, despite the risk of losing her home to coastal erosion.
Jean Blythe Evans has lived on Uppercliff Drive in Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan for the last 33 years.
She told CJS News that for a number of years, she has witnessed constant rockfalls at the end of her garden as the surrounding cliffs have fallen away.
Mrs Evans said it first started four years ago and has got considerably worse over time, particularly during the recent storms. She recalled how she lost two metres of her garden in one night.
“I was looking at it the day before and I thought, ‘Wow this is getting very wet and muddy’ and the next morning, that whole section was gone.”
Over the next 100 years, it’s estimated that over 2,000 properties in Wales are at risk
from coastal erosion, according to Natural Resources Wales.
Jean’s neighbour Jane McJennett described being woken in the night to parts of the cliff falling.
She said, “When we had Storm Darragh, I was woken in the evening during the night where you could hear sections of the cliff falling. All of the trees connecting and growing into the side were falling down. There was huge commotion.”
The Vale of Glamorgan has approximately 45km of open coast, of which around 4km benefit from formal coastal defences maintained by the council.
Vale of Glamorgan Council has a Shoreline Management Policy for Penarth, but it is for only to protect existing defences around the pier and promenade and not for any new defences to protect homes.
The coastline has been regularly monitored by the Wales Coastal Monitoring Centre as part of a national programme since 2019.
Conservative Councillor for Vale of Glamorgan Anthony Ernest told CJS the council is doing “everything it can” to support those at risk.