Prince William travelled to Skenfrith in Monmouthshire, Wales, today to meet residents who have been flooded out of their homes four times in the last six years
Prince William consoled residents of a “forgotten” Welsh village as they prepared to batten down the hatches for storm season.
The Prince of Wales travelled to Skenfrith, Monmouthshire, where some locals have been flooded out of their homes four times in the last six years. He also visited the nearby White Castle Farm, where he hopped over a fence to meet Stump Up For Trees – an environmental charity working to restore native woodland as a sustainable way of helping to prevent flooding.
Last year in Skenfrith, firemen had to rescue locals from their cottages by boat during last winter’s Storm Claudia as water levels reached waist-height when the River Monnow burst its banks.
Today, William praised villagers’ resilience and sympathised with them as they prepared for this winter’s storms predicted to be worse than ever due to the El Niño effect.
The prince wanted to visit the community fighting back against the floods, which saw a five-foot-deep torrent of water gush through the village. He told villager Jeanette Lee, 70: “It must be demoralising. There can be nothing worse than large volumes of water coming into your house.”
Some locals have sold up and moved out after seeing the value of their properties plummet and finding they could no longer get insurance.
But Jacqueline Brown, 79, said she is staying put even though she has her belongings packed in boxes ready to move upstairs when the next flood hits. She has lived in Skenfrith for the last 60 years and has a memory of the village being flooded in the distant past.
But she told William that her cottage in the village has been flooded four times in the last six years. The prince then called into the village hall to meet members of Monmouthshire County Council and Natural Resources Wales who have been part of a formal inquiry into flood risk management in the area.
Dr Catrin Maybe, Monmouthshire Council’s cabinet member for climate change and environment, told him: “It is harrowing for people who live in the Monnow Valley – there is a sense of real fear and anxiety as we are coming up to storm season.”
The village of 24 houses was also hit by Storm Dennis six years ago, and after getting itself back on its feet, Storm Claudia hit last year.
William walked past a three-bedroomed cottage opposite the church, on the market for £155,000, about half its marked value pre-floods. One villager joked: “If someone buys it they should turn the upstairs into a flat and the downstairs into a dock to keep a boat.” Villager Helen Wyatt, 57, welcomed the Prince’s visit saying Skenfrith was a “forgotten village” and needed all the help it can get in fighting the floods.
After at Great Tre Rhew Farm, William got his hands dirty planting a tree and joked that “a pint of cider a day keeps the doctor away”.
There he planted a Welsh Oak and heard told how local farmers had reinstated a historic cider orchard as part of a project to plant one million native trees across the region.
Farmers Jim and Kate Beavan told him how they had replanted apple trees on a north-facing slope which meant they flowered later and missed the last frost, producing better fruit.
Cider fan William clearly approved of their efforts, but insisted he would only ever stick to one pint of their homemade Great Tre Rhew cider because “it’s eight per cent!”
He visited the farm near White Castle, Monmouthshire, to see how the charity Stump Up For Trees is planting shelter belts on hillsides – strips of forestry to provide shelter for livestock and improve soil infiltration, helping to keep water in the ground to prevent flooding, but also to serve as a firebreak.
Last year, Storm Claudia caused the nearby River Monnow to burst its banks, causing significant damage to the local area. Over the summer wildfires devastated hillsides around nearby Blaenavon, making the charity’s work more relevant than ever.
William planted his own tree in the strip of land, joking as he approached a pre-dug hole, “Here’s one I made earlier”. Lowering the sapling into the ground, he got his hands dirty, scattering soil around the base.
“Hopefully that will be nice and tall. It’s in a good spot, it’s got lots of space,” he said. Earlier, William helped collect seeds from a Field Maple, reaching into the branches to harvest them to be added to the nursery.
“There’s nothing more calming and therapeutic,” he said as he helped volunteers to pick them off. “I’m a bit taller than the rest of you so I should be reaching up here for some of these higher ones.”
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