I think you are being a little negative, as I can see many advantages to the scheme.

Your main concern seems to be about whether the dam could hold back the North Sea. This, and many of the other problems you mentioned, could easily be solved if we backfilled The Wash with landfill material.

Now, at first glance, this could seem a bad idea, but let's think it through. The main problem is that The Wash is quite big, and we'd need a lot, so as well as our own, we'd need everyone else's landfill.

But, as we would be buying in bulk, we could probably get it quite cheap. The benefits to the local economy would be enormous. Ecology is quite popular at the moment, and all the unemployed people could make a good living rummaging among the backfill and recycling all the good stuff.

As we all know, before they tightened up security at the local rubbish dumps, it was easy to come back with more stuff than you took. The things people throw away!

And of course, because they'd all be living a healthier, outdoor life, they wouldn't need doctors all the time and the NHS would save a fortune.

It would increase tourism because we could have a permanent car boot sale stretching from Hunstanton down to the muddy bit at Snettisham. It would sell all the stuff the rummagers have found. Tourists love going to car boot sales.

The bird watchers would be happy because there would be lots of seagulls for them to watch, and that would help the fish and chip shop owners because a bag of chips is very useful when you're trying to spot seagulls.

But that's not all.

Once the landfill has composted down, we could spread a thick layer all over The Fens and the rest of Norfolk. Then, instead of spending zillions of pounds pumping rainwater up to the sea, like we do now, we could just let it run downhill into the sea like everyone else.

Of course, the loss of the carbon footprint from the pumps might stop the world warming up, and we might end up paying more for heating than we need to. So we could get the airports and things to fly their planes round and round The Wash, like the RAF do at the moment.

We'd hardly notice them, what with the seagulls, and some people like spotting planes.

But we'll have to get a move on, before anyone else gets the same idea, especially the people around the Norfolk Broads.
They've already got their dam in place and could start backfilling straight away.

Also, I read somewhere that landfill is getting more expensive, so the sooner we get going, the cheaper it will be.

In time, West Norfolk could be right at the centre of European landfill.
I do like the smell of fresh paint, don't you?

Colin Davies
sent by email

However, name and address supplied, writes:

We were thinking of retiring to the area around Hunstanton but are having serious second thoughts now the proposals for the Wash Barrier seem to be gathering momentum.

In our opinion it will have a detrimental effect on the area both at sea and on land.

I can only foresee that the proposal will have a negative effect for people already in the area and those that were thinking of moving there. How property prices will be affected is anyone's guess at present, but I would think it will be in the negative as opposed to the positive.

Purfleet says: Don't you worry. Your future is safe in Hunstanton and anywhere else in Norfolk and Fenland. Like me you'll be long dead before this scheme ever looks even like getting off the ground.