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Saturday 17 February 2018

Dramatic show of how far the cliffs at Pennington Point have retreated over a 10-year period from 2008 to 2018 >>> "the erosion was caused by the construction of the rock islands that were intended to protect the cliffs"

The Beach Management Plan trundles on, promising something:
Futures Forum: Beach Management Plan: report from 10th January meeting
Futures Forum: Beach Management Plan: “These investigations are an essential part of our studies to move forwards a scheme to maintain and improve the town’s protection from flooding and I’m pleased to see East Devon continuing to make good use of local expertise.”

Or maybe not:
Futures Forum: Plans for Port Royal: and whatever happened to the Beach Management Plan...

There won't exactly be very much in the coffers:
Futures Forum: Beach Management Plan: and asking the public to fund a public project >>> nine months on and £165 richer

There are cheaper options - not on offer for East Devon, though:
Futures Forum: Rock armouring to protect South Devon coast

Meanwhile, the cliffs continue to collapse:
Futures Forum: Dramatic show of how far the cliffs at Pennington Point have retreated over a 10-year period from 2006 to 2016 >>> "Sidmouth’s cliffs to the east of the seafront are constantly under attack from coastal erosion."

And things are looking very bad, as reported on the front page of the Herald:


Photos of Sidmouth cliffs reveal ‘alarming’ rate of erosion


16 February 2018 Stephen Sumner


Charles Lodge took these photos from his apartment. He said using the lamp posts as markers shows how the cliffs have eroded. 


A business owner with a viewpoint over Sidmouth’s crumbling cliffs is calling for an end to talking and the start of some preventative action. Charles Lodge played on East Beach as a child in the 1960s, but over the last decade has witnessed an ‘alarming’ rate of erosion. Mr Lodge has documented the receding coastline over the last decade by taking photos from the same spot.

He thinks East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) idea to ask the community for contributions to the beach management plan (BMP) is a ‘non-starter’ – but the authority says it is essential to unlock government funding. “The lack of any action from EDDC is alarming,” said Mr Lodge, who owns Libra Court. “All that seems to happen is talking. When will some preventative action be taken? Monitoring is no solution to the problem of Pennington Point gradually disappearing.”

Mr Lodge claims the erosion was caused by the construction of the rock islands that were intended to protect the cliffs. He added: “As a youngster in the 1960s there was a substantial pebble beach. Nowadays, the beach has gone and there is nothing to break the force of the waves, particularly in a south-westerly storm.”

Consultants are drafting a business plan so EDDC can secure £5.7million in government funding. The authority needs a further £3.3million in partnership funding to deliver the scheme and plans to write to businesses and residents to ask for contributions.

Mr Lodge said the idea is a ‘non-starter’ and argued the costs should be borne by ‘EDDC and the various agencies’.

An EDDC spokeswoman said: “While we appreciate it took longer than some people may wish to get to this stage, the council felt it was important to take on the views of community representatives and to undertake additional research using more local sources of information as part of the BMP. The outline business case includes the outline design, and environmental impact assessment, which are prerequisites for any construction scheme on this scale to progress. Without completing these we would be unable to access DEFRA funding for the scheme.”

The spokeswoman said partnership funding was introduced to allow projects like the BMP to proceed – on the understanding that the communities that benefit would contribute. She added that Sidmouth’s reliance on tourism means there is an ‘excellent case’ for local contributions to come in. The spokeswoman said studies showed the erosion is not related to the breakwaters, and sediment recycling is proposed in the BMP to protect the cliffs.


Photos of Sidmouth cliffs reveal ‘alarming’ rate of erosion | Latest Sidmouth and Ottery News - Sidmouth Herald
Cliff inspections to take place in Sidmouth | Latest Sidmouth and Ottery News - Sidmouth Herald

The Express & Echo also carries the story on its front page:

Sidmouth cliff top homes creeping towards destruction as 'a metre a year' lost to the sea


A row of 12 houses, perched on cliffs at Sidmouth, have all lost large parts of their gardens, and it is a year to the day that Paul Griew's shed collapsed onto the beach


Daniel Clark 7 FEB 2018



Sidmouth cliff top homes creeping towards destruction as 'a metre a year' lost to the sea - Devon Live

Video shows aftermath of yet another massive cliff fall in Sidmouth

Council is asking the public to help fund a multi-million pound plan to protect the beach


Richard Booth 7 AUG 2017

There has been yet another cliff fall in Sidmouth. More of the cliffs overhanging Sidmouth's East Beach on the area near to Pennington Point collapsed on Saturday. The cliff fall happened just yards away from where three metres of the garden of Paul Griew – including his beloved shed – collapsed in a landslide months ago – and where 1,000 tons of soil and dirt landed on the beach in May in what was one of the biggest cliff falls for years.

Sidmouth's cliffs have been collapsing into the sea for a while and the latest cliff fall happened at around 9.30am on Saturday morning.

East Devon District Council is asking the public to help fund a multi-million pound plan to protect the beach in Sidmouth. The council is appealing to residents and visitors to Sidmouth to help contribute financially to the town's beach management scheme via a donation box on the seafront. A £5.7million grant from central government will go towards delivering a scheme to protect the coastline. But a further £3.3million of partnership funding is required for the scheme.

East Devon District Council's cabinet also gave the approval to award contracts for investigation, modelling, design and business case for Sidmouth's Beach Management Scheme.

The next phase of the project will be undertaken by Royal HaskoningDHV, who successfully tendered for the work. Royal HaskoningDHV will carry out the outline design, which will include surveys of the seabed, sampling of the sediment, monitoring of currents and modelling. The information they accrue will help them produce an outline design for the scheme that will then need to be approved by the Environment Agency.


Video shows aftermath of yet another massive cliff fall in Sidmouth - Devon Live

And it's now hit the national news:
Sidmouth cliff homes losing "a metre a year" to sea - BBC News
Is this Britain's most endangered road? Incredible £6MILLION of houses at risk of falling into the sea - Mirror Online

Is this Britain's most endangered road? Homeowners are losing three feet of their gardens every year as cliffs gradually fall into the sea - and £6MILLION of houses are at risk

Cliff-top houses in Sidmouth, in Devon, are losing three feet of their garden every year to coastal erosion
Cliff Road is in danger of becoming Britain's most expensive property collapse with over £6m worth of homes
Martin McInerney, 82, has lost 65ft of his in 20 years - with his home expected to be on the edge in 60 years
The Environment Agency said it was 'supporting East Devon District Council' and the local community


By ANTHONY JOSEPH FOR MAILONLINE
7 February 2018

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.



Cliff-top houses are losing over three feet of their garden every year to erosion on one of Britain's most endangered roads


Devon homeowners lose three feet of their garden yearly | Daily Mail Online
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