Cliff-top houses are losing over three feet of their garden every year to erosion on one of Britain’s most endangered roads.
A row of 12 houses perched on Cliff Road at Sidmouth, Devon, have all lost large parts of their gardens.
Cliff Road is in danger of becoming Britain’s most expensive property collapse with over £6million worth of cliff top houses creeping towards destruction.
A row of 12 houses perched on Cliff Road at Sidmouth, Devon have all lost large parts of their gardens
Pictures of Paul Griew’s shed which was swept away along with part of his garden last year
Martin McInerney, 82, has lost 65ft of his in the 20 years he has lived there and expects his home to be on the cliff edge in 60 years
The Environment Agency says it is working to get funding for a scheme to reduce erosion
Martin McInerney, 82, has lost 65ft of his in the 20 years he has lived there and expects his home to be on the cliff edge in 60 years.
The Environment Agency says it is working to get funding for a scheme to reduce erosion.
Sidmouth is part of the UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, which is important for its sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks.
But the landslides which have hit the cliffs there look set to take an expensive toll.
Just a year ago an expensive outhouse belonging to neighbour Paul Griew was filmed crashing down onto the beach during a cliff landslip there.
Mr McInerney’s garden is being lost in uneven stages.
The biggest single loss was a 33ft section and 14 months ago a 16ft chunk slipped into the sea about 100ft below.
Longshore drift – the movement of material along a coastline by waves – has taken protective sand and shingle westwards and exposed the cliffs say geologists.
The biggest single loss was a 33ft section and 14 months ago a 16ft chunk slipped into the sea about 100ft below
Residents are also concerned that low-lying Sidmouth town centre will be flooded unless the sea defences are repaired
Mr McInerney said he knew the cliffs were eroding when he and his wife Jo moved in ‘but it’s happening faster than we thought’.
‘Fortunately we have got 60 metres left and given that I am in my 80s, I’m not too worried about it,’ he said.
‘Although my grandchildren might not have the inheritance their parents would like them to have.’
Despite the erosion Mr McInerney says he does not want to move.
‘It’s wonderful living here, light, airy and beautiful views,’ he said.
Residents are also concerned that low-lying Sidmouth town centre will be flooded unless the sea defences are repaired.
The Environment Agency said it was ‘supporting East Devon District Council and the local community’ in making a case to get funding for a beach management scheme to protect the cliffs and the town. Pictured is an aerial view of Cliff Road in 2015
In February 2017 Britain’s most endangered road of clifftop houses crept nearer to collapse after the latest in a series of huge cliff falls. What Cliff Road looks like from above now
The Environment Agency said it was ‘supporting East Devon District Council and the local community’ in making a case to get funding for a beach management scheme to protect the cliffs and the town.
In February 2017 Britain’s most endangered road of clifftop houses crept nearer to collapse after the latest in a series of huge cliff falls.
Paul Griew said he received a call from a neighbour to tell him his garden shed had disappeared down the cliff on Sidmouth’s east beach after tons of it crumbled away.
He said at the time: ‘My gardener was standing at the end there at 11.30am and I told him not to, thank god he left.
‘My neighbour called, she was watching it at the time. It take years but it seems with the heavy rain hasn’t been helpful.’