People in Fairbourne have begun their legal battle to recover the value of their homes.

Residents are seeking £100 million worth of compensation after a controversial report recommended the evacuation of the village.

At a recent well-attended meeting, residents voted overwhelmingly in favour of pursuing legal action over the controversial Shoreline Management Plan 2 (SMP2) which “blighted” the Fairbourne community by presenting “alarmist” information.

Fairbourne Facing Change, a community group dedicated to securing the village’s future­, has been collecting funds in a bid to hire a top legal mind from London to fight their corner.

The lawyer will need at least £15,000 in legal fees – although this represents a “tiny fraction” of the usual rates which would normally be applie­d by a barrister specialising in this field.

The group has already collected more than £12,500 for the cause and has publicly thanked all 127 sources which have donated money so far.

A spokesperson for Fairbourne Facing Change stated: “The FFC Core Group is now sufficiently confident of reaching our £15,000 target that we have officially appointed Tim Leader to work on our behalf.

“Indeed, Tim has already visited Fairbourne for a conference meeting with FFC.

“A ‘case file’ containing over 600 pages of documentation had been prepared by FFC – a huge operation in itself – and this file was sent to Tim in preparation for our meeting.

“Our fight for justice and ‘fair play’ for the people of Fairbourne continues."

See the full story in this Thursday’s Meirionnydd edition of the Cambrian News