The group from Sea Palling, near Hemsby, are currently locked in a planning row with holiday home owners over their site in the Marrams, who say it has become “too intensified”.

In the latest development, neighbours living at Bonheur, who have owned their home for 46 years, have claimed building work has caused drainage issues to their property.

Sea Palling’s fishing heritage could be under threat (Image: Jack Warren, Newsquest)

A lengthy report has been submitted to North Norfolk District Council to support this claim, which includes a series of photographs of flooding and satellite images showing how the site has been developed.

It has been published as part of a retrospective application to keep the changes at the yard after the previous threat of enforcement action was dropped by council officials.

Homes along the Marrams in Sea Palling (Image: Google)

The family who own Bonheur, who are understood to be from Swaffham, said: “We are still concerned by the development in its current form and in particular how the unauthorised works and operations carried out from the site are having an adverse impact on our everyday lives.

“In particular, the threat of regular localised flooding. We fear that this situation will only get worse should planning permission be granted.”

An aerial view of the boat yard (Image: Google)

They worry raising of ground levels by creating a hardstanding has contributed to the problem, while also questioning whether effective drainage has been installed.

The objection letter continued: “We have experienced increased groundwater levels each winter since development began, leading to access problems in our driveway each year and flooding of our property.

“This has never occurred before in any year of our 46 years of ownership and we have consistently used the property at all times of year, being a large local Norfolk family, living and working in the county.”

The yard has been used by the fishermen for decades (Image: Submitted)

The report says the flooding has caused “extensive” damp issues and damage to the walls and puts the blame on surface water and a lack of drainage.

However, David Will, who is acting as the agent for the fishermen, has dismissed the claims, stating the Internal Drainage Board has not objected to the application.

Environment Agency officials have also not objected.

The yard acts as a base for the fishermen, storing boats, tractors and equipment (Image: Submitted)

He said: “The cause of the flooding was an unusual run of circumstances after heavy rain had filled the yard’s tributaries and drains to overflow.

“An extremely high tide coming upstream forced flood water to break banks, particularly to the Broads marshes.”

He added that problems with an Anglian Water main contributed to the problems.

“To blame the boatyard is nonsense,” he said.

While there have been objections from neighbours, there has been an outpouring of support locally, with more than 20 people writing to the council to defend the fishermen.

Local councillor Harry Blathwayt has called for the fishing industry to be supported.

Richard Clarke, a 3rd generation fisherman working from Sea Palling (Image: Jack Warren, Newsquest)

He said: “This piece of land has been used for this purpose for the last 20 plus years and has become a vital part of the fishing fleets’ operation.

“The fishing fleet’s activity is an important part of Sea Palling’s local economy, without which it would be even more reliant on tourism.”

The row over the yard in Sea Palling began after holiday home owners complained to NNDC about being disturbed by the activities of the fishermen.

They say work on the site had “intensified”, arguing the yard has become more ‘industrial’ over the years, with bigger boats with more equipment now operating from there.

The fishermen say three generations have operated from the site and have not received any complaints until now.

They catch herring, crabs, lobster, whelks, bass and mackerel in the waters off the village.

A decision on the application is expected to be made in the coming months.

The boatyard in 2006 (Image: Google Earth)

The boatyard in 2020 (Image: Google Earth)

The boatyard in 2024 (Image: Google Earth)