Fishermen in an idyllic seaside village have won a battle with second home owners to carry on a ‘noisy’ tradition going back centuries.
Boat skippers in Sea Palling, Norfolk, have received complaints that noise from a yard where they store their boats and equipment is ruining the area’s peace and quiet.
Second home owners took their concerns to North Norfolk District Council – but the fishermen argued their work is essential to the tradition’s survival in the village.
The boat skippers launched a petition to rally support across their community and now the authorities have said they will not issue an enforcement notice against them.
It comes as locals along Norfolk’s coastline have become increasingly frustrated by the rising number of holiday lets, which they say have driven up house prices and ‘hollowed-out’ communities.
Earlier this year, Burnham Market’s parish council chief Dennis Clark resigned after controversially claiming there was ‘genuine hatred’ for second homeowners.
Speaking of the row in Sea Palling, Richard Clarke, who is the third generation of his family to operate from Sea Palling, said: ‘It is unbelievable.
‘It shows how strong the community spirit is. It is marvellous. I feel very hopeful, it’s heart-warming to have all this support.
‘We also embrace holidaymakers and are good friends with some of the second homers.
‘However, there is one family that are causing the problem. If we lost that land then we would not be able to operate how we do.
‘We have always used it, and it is our base. It would kill it for us.
‘We have been going out from Sea Palling for three generations and have never had any complaints.
‘There have been boats stored on that land for over 20 years. We are lucky to be here and have a nice place to work from. It is a shame really.
‘Nobody would take over after us, we will be the last generation to fish commercially here.
‘It is hard enough to make a living with all the rules and regulations. We just want to carry on and fish for a living.’
The row has only heightened long-standing tensions between locals and holiday homeowners in Sea Palling.
Long-term residents have argued the influx of outsiders has created a housing shortage, pushing up property prices and leaving communities like ghost towns in the off-season when holidaymakers go home.
But the wealthy investors argue they are vital for shoring up the livelihoods of locals businesses and tradesmen.
Mark Casson, who runs the Lifeboat Tavern pub, said: ‘The whole village is backing the fishermen. We are so proud to have them here.
‘Wealthy people have bought these properties and are destroying what makes this place so beautiful.’
Matthew Fernando, who also runs the pub, added: ‘The whole village is behind them. In a small village like this you have the beauty and the privilege of fishermen fishing off your shores.’
The dispute centred on a yard around 100 metres back from the sea where several fishermen have stored gear and boats since the early 1980s.
When the tide and weather conditions are right, they use tractors to tow their vessels along a road, the Marrams, to the slipway at Beach Road, where they can get onto the beach.
Following rising tensions, the yard’s owner applied to the local council for a Certificate of Lawfulness, to ensure the land had the correct permissions and to try to resolve complaints.
However, the holiday home owners lodged official objections with the council.
They argue that the yard has become more ‘industrial’ over the years, with bigger boats with more equipment now operating from there.
In a document submitted to the council, one objector said: ‘The landowner appears to want free rein to do anything he wishes – not necessarily related to historical small scale local fishing.’
According to David Will, the man fighting the battle with the council on behalf of the landowner, the authorities have now said they will not issue an enforcement notice.
However, the next step is for negotiations between the council, the landowner and the fishermen to determine how much of the land is allowed to be used by the fishermen.
