A COMMUNITY group is attempting to set up a home-letting company in a village threatened by rising sea levels.

Fairbourne’s plight against rising sea-levels has been well documented in the last few years with the county council only promising to safeguard the low-laying community for another 37 years before potentially abandoning the village to its fate.

Misreporting and confusion has caused house prices in Fairbourne to plummet with some residents suggesting their house was now valued “at zero”.

In a bid to fight back, Fairbourne: Moving Forward – a multi-agency project tasked with looking after Fairbourne’s interest over the next four decades – scrapped for a feasibility study with a view to establishing a buy to let scheme for residents. 

Unfortunately for residents, the feasibility study concluded that no organisation would be interested in the scheme due to the level of investment required, potential risk of flooding and lack of return-on-investment.

In view of this and after speaking with the community, the idea of establishing a Community Interest Company (FCIC) was conceived and earlier this year, the project submitted a bid to Nesta as part of their ‘Innovate to Save’ funding stream. 

In June, officials from Fairbourne: Moving Forward went down to Cardiff for an interview as part of their procurement process and have subsequently been awarded the funding to complete a short feasibility study into how FCIC will operate in addition to setting-up the company. 

Now, a letter has been sent out to concerned residents.

It reads: “FCIC involves obtaining funding to establish a company that will purchase a limited number of houses each year, with a view to putting tenants in those houses and collecting rent from them accordingly, putting this money back into FCIC.

“This money would then be reinvested in the repair and maintenance of these houses along with tenant management and some of the surplus would be reinvested into the community.

“Local organisations would be used to fulfil the maintenance regime hence providing an element of business for local trades.  The remainder of the surplus would be used to reduce borrowing the following year, to purchase more properties.

The scheme would not be run by the project or Gwynedd Council – it would be run by the board made up from a variety of stakeholders and community members.

Further details will be released soon, with project leaders saying: “We will be doing a great deal of consultation with the community to ensure those who want to be involved or informed are able to participate in establishing the FCIC.”

For more information, visit http://fairbourne.info/.