PROSPECTIVE Assembly members have lent their support to Fairbourne as residents battle to secure the village’s future.

Speaking at a Hustings event in Fairbourne Village Hall last Saturday, 16 April, seven candidates or party representatives for mid and west Wales all vowed to support Fairbourne on their ongoing plight for legal justice.

The candidates including Aled Davies, Welsh Conservatives; Alice Hooker-Stroud, Green Party Wales; Louise Hughes, independent; Dr Ian MacIntyre, Welsh Labour Party; Steve Churchman, Welsh Liberal Democrats; Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Plaid Cymru and Neil Hamilton, UKIP.

The Hustings, organised and hosted by Community Action Group Fairbourne Facing Change, placed the future of the village and the impact of the contentious Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) at the top of the agenda and gave each candidate five minutes to voice their opinion.

The majority of candidates expressed their sympathy for the villagers, their admiration for Fairbourne’s resilient attitude and suggested that more research needed to be done to actually evaluate just how much risk the coastal community was facing.

Notably the UKIP candidate claimed that he was unsure of the science behind current studies and warned of “climate change alarmism”, Dr Ian Macintyre criticised MP for Dwyfor and Meirionnydd Liz Saville Roberts for not bringing up the Fairbourne debate in parliament and Welsh Liberal Democrat Steve Churchman said the UK government should look to the Netherlands and consider how they manage sea defences effectively in their predominantly low-laying country.

In reply to Mr MacIntyre’s criticism, Lord Elis-Thomas said that the Hustings was a platform for debate and not political point scoring but the future of Fairbourne was a “matter to be faced, and faced firmly”.

Independent Louise Hughes felt that the lack of consultation for the village’s community was “immoral” and mentioned she had previously spent time in the village stacking sandbags to prevent serious flooding in 2013.

Green Party Wales leader Alice Hooker-Stroud claimed that her first act in her new role was to meet with the Fairbourne community and gather their views.

She admitted to being “so angry” with the Welsh Government for distributing “incoherent” consultation documents and not dealing with the threat of climate change in a more timely fashion.

The Conservative candidate Aled Davies said he would be reluctant to lose any land to the sea because, as a farmer, he appreciates that “all land is precious”.

See more stories from the Hustings in Fairbourne in this week’s Cambrian News