The idyllic seaside village at battle: Holiday let and second house house owners complain ‘noisy’ fishermen are ruining their peace and quiet…placing centuries-old trade in danger

An idyllic seaside village has been split in a dispute between locals and newcomers over noise caused by its centuries-old fishing industry.

Holiday let and second home owners have complained that activity at a yard where fishermen store boats and equipment is ruining their peace and quiet.

But the fishermen and locals argue the work is essential to the tradition’s survival in the area and say the newcomers shouldn’t have bought properties nearby if they didn’t want the disruption.

The dispute is focused on the boat yard in Sea Palling, Norfolk, which is 300ft inland and has been in use since the early 1980s.

When tides and weather conditions permit, the fishermen use tractors to tow their vessels along a road called The Marrams and onto the beach.

But The Marrams is a popular spot for second homes and holiday rentals and owners claim the site has become more ‘industrial’ over the years, with larger boats and more machinery operating there.

One objector wrote: ‘The landowner appears to want free reign to do anything he wishes – not necessarily related to historical small-scale local fishing.’

North Norfolk District Council has now sided with them and refused to grant the owner a Certificate of Lawfulness stating the land has the correct permissions in place for the work that goes on there.

The site now faces enforcement action, which could impose restrictions on what activity takes place there and make it commercially unviable.

Furious fishermen include Richard Clarke, who catches crabs, lobster, whelks, herring, bass and mackerel with his brother, Jason.

‘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,’ he said.

‘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.’

Among the locals in the village of around 700 residents who fear the fishing fleet could be driven away is Lifeboat Tavern landlord Mark Casson, who 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 run the pub, added the newcomers to the village have no right to complain about fishermen moving their boats in and out of the sea often during the night, according to tides.

‘If you buy a house in a fishing village by the sea, you can’t expect to get rid of historic fishermen who have been here for years and years,’ he said.

‘Fishing is a dying trade and it’s a beautiful thing to see these boats come in and out. If you’re upset about that, go buy a house [further] inland.’

He added: ‘How can you want to take away culture and history from a seaside village? These are guys who are just working day to day to get as much as they can to survive and live.

‘When you eat fresh lobster in a restaurant, while you’re on holiday, where do you think it comes from?’

He pointed out villagers had no problem with the boats because they were used to the noise, saying: ‘It wouldn’t wake me up.’

Another local, who asked not to be named, said a petition had been placed in the local shop ‘that reflected the feeling of local people’.

They added: ‘This history of it is it’s one of the only fishing fleets that is expanding. It would be such a shame if it had to stop.’

The flashpoint is the latest problem between long-standing locals and newcomers who have recently arrived in communities along the Norfolk coast after investing in second homes and holiday lets.

Long-term residents argue 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.

A string of communities in the county have introduced measures to stop newbuild properties being snapped up by people who won’t live in them full-time following local referendums that revealed the level of anger. More than four-fifths of locals supported the measures in many of the sought-after seaside towns and villages.

But tensions in Sea Palling have risen to a new level after yard owner Fred Page’s application for a Certificate of Lawfulness was turned down by the council following objections from the holiday home owners.

The council said it had checked images provided by the objectors and concluded that work at the site had ‘intensified’, while some vessels were not used for fishing.

In a report, it stated: ‘Documents setting out detailed photographic evidence alongside publicly available aerial images has been provided by objectors to the application and documents the changes to the site. These images corroborate the Google Earth aerial imagery.

‘It is clear that the use currently taking place has used more land, broadened in scope and intensified significantly within the last four or five years via the storage of more and larger boats (not all of which relate to the local fishing trade), additional huts and greater outside storage of equipment.’

The parish council is also supportive of the fishermen, however.

Defending the certificate application, it wrote: ‘The fishing industry in Sea Palling is the only local fleet along the North Norfolk coast which has actually grown in recent years and it is an integral part of the village and local economy.

‘The parish council feels that it is iniquitous for people who own only holiday cottages in the village to try and alter something which has been in situ for several decades and is integral to the way of life here.

‘If the holiday home owners didn’t want to own a property next to a thriving fishing fleet facility, why on earth did they buy it?’

Mr Page said he was appealing against the council’s decision and had recruited a property consultant for professional advice.

He said: ‘Fishermen have been there since around 1980. If they lose this, they will go. It will be the final nail in the coffin for the fishing out of Sea Palling.’

The villager’s recorded history dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, which stated that there were nine villagers and four smallholders who lived in an area surrounded at the time by salt marshes – although its economic links to the sea date back much further.

Sea Palling was also a hotspot for smuggling, peaking in the late 18th century when Revenue cutters patrolled the coast to seize illicit goods including tea and tobacco.

It remains prone to coastal flooding, with the great North Sea Flood of 1953 taking the lives of seven villagers. A sea wall was subsequently extended and the Environment Agency has installed artificial barrier reefs.

North Norfolk District Council was approached for a comment.