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A village is tipped to become the first in the UK to relocate its community out due to the threat of climate change.

Fairbourne is currently protected by a multi-million flood management scheme, but as sea levels continue to rise, its council is considering stopping the funding.

Sea levels are thought to have risen by 100 metres since the Ice Age, and are set to rise a further two over the next century.

With the Welsh village being just feet away from the sea, Gwynedd Council in 2013 decided that it could not defend Fairbourne from nature's dangers in the long-term, Wales Online reports.

(Image: Keith Morris)

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It currently does, along with Natural Resources Wales, who have spent more than £6m on a flood risk management scheme in the area in the past four years.

However, a Shoreline Management Plan for the west of Wales, first commissioned by the Cardigan Bay Coastal Group in 2009, “raises significant concerns over the future sustainability of the defence of Fairbourne”.

The concerns are based on climate change and the speed at which it takes hold. Sea levels continue to rise.

In short, there will be no money spent on defending this community of around 400 homes and 850 people after 2054.

(Image: Keith Morris)

The harsh and unforgiving word ‘decommission’ has been banded about - the death of a community facilitated by its inhabitants being forced to move out, its shops closed down, its houses demolished to make way for salt marsh.

Gwynedd Council says it has not decided to ‘decommission’ Fairbourne, but they have also not ruled it out, admitting that such a step would “need to be considered”. What they have confirmed, however, is that relocating residents is a certainty.

Some people won’t be here to see it, while others are still hoping to be living and working here when the ‘masterplan’ - as it’s been called - kicks into action.

(Image: Matt Buck/Flickr)

“It’s frustrating,” says Lauren Baynes, a 22-year-old who runs the village butcher’s with her partner.

"We have two young children. It would be nice to hand the business down to them one day and for the whole family to stay here - I’ve lived in the area my whole life and I’ve never known Fairbourne to flood badly.

“We’ve been open now and for three years and I want to stay here, long-term.”

The ambiguity surrounding how and when drastic action is taken to save the people of Fairbourne from the sea is what alarms most of its residents.

Estimates predict that the point of no return could be as early as 2042, or earlier.

(Image: Matt Buck/Flickr)

“I’ve never been spoken to about any of this,” says Lauren said.

“Nobody has said anything about what’s going to happen, or when, or how. There’s been no word on compensation or where we would all move to.”

Currently, there are no measures in place for homeowners to receive compensation when they are made to relocate.

“Most people are seriously angry at how it’s been handled,” says Stuart Eves, chair of the local community council, who has lived in Fairbourne for 43 years.

“They’ve basically said ‘we’re going to come in and take this all down’.

"How can they say that based on supposition?

"Of course we realise that sea levels are rising, but at what rate? We know there’s going to be a problem, but what we don’t know is when.”

Councillor Catrin Wager, cabinet member at Gwynedd Council , says it is the “priority” of the authority to work with local people to “protect the social and economic viability of the village for as long as possible whilst also offering emotional and practical support to local people to deal with the situation the village will eventually face.”

(Image: Getty Images)

One resident disagrees and says that, regardless of what may happen in 20 or so years’ time, Fairbourne has already been washed out.

“We feel the county council has abandoned us,” says Alan Wilde, a resident of 35 years.

“First, they closed the toilets. They also took away the concrete ramp down to the beach two years ago so there’s no safe access to our beach. The notice boards, which are essential to any holiday village, have been taken away and there’s no sign of them being replaced.

"They’re killing tourism and we feel abandoned. We’re totally in the dark.”

Gwynedd Council say that discussions are ongoing to determine the best and safest way of executing their plan to relocate residents before 2054, when they say “sea level rises and changing weather patterns will mean that it will not be possible to further bolster the village’s sea defences”, a point when “the risk to residents will significantly increase”.

It says a “multi-agency project” has been established to address the complex issues that will eventually face Fairbourne.

Councillor Wager added: “Climate change is happening, and it is unfortunately only a matter of time before it has a very real human impact on coastal communities like Fairbourne.

He said he hopes by talking to the community "sooner rather than later" there is enough time to "come up with viable options and the best possible solutions."

“Currently there is no legislative precedent or national funding stream for the so called ‘decommissioning’ of a whole community and as a council we are seeking assurances from the Welsh Government that these two issues will be addressed as soon as possible," he added.