Shocking drone pictures show dozens of holiday homes about to fall into the sea due to coastal erosion

<em>The footage shows how holiday homes are at danger of falling into the sea (SWNS)</em>
The footage shows how holiday homes are at danger of falling into the sea (SWNS)

These shocking photos show the extent that coastal erosion has put several homes at risk of collapsing off a cliff edge.

Dozens of owners of holiday caravans worth between £40,000 and £100,000 were shocked to find a 50 metre long crack had opened up along the cliff edge just yards from their homes.

Now many of the properties at Longbeach Leisure Park, Hornsea, North Yorks, will have to be moved before they plunge onto the beach below.

The photographs, taken using a drone, show the worst crack in the cliff top – caused by coastal erosion – ever seen according to some holiday home owners.

<em>Owners of holiday caravans were shocked to find a 50 metre long crack had opened up along the cliff edge (SWNS)</em>
Owners of holiday caravans were shocked to find a 50 metre long crack had opened up along the cliff edge (SWNS)

The coast is eroding at a rate of 2.3m per year according to the local council – who now say there is a “need to relocate or remove caravan pitches from the site”.

Bosses at the holiday home site have had to relocate 12 homes so far this year due to the shocking change in the cliff face.

One homeowner – Jenny Speight, 71 – has owned four different properties on the site in the last 33 years.

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Just five years after purchasing the high-spec home which lays directly on the coastline, she was given the devastating news she would have to relocate as soon as possible in January.

Mrs Speight – who visits the £45k property most weekends with husband Brian, 76, from their home in Bradford, West Yorks., – has been offered a plot further away from the cliff edge.

The couple, who are both retired, are now beginning to to pack up their belongings before being relocated.

<em>Bosses at the holiday home site have had to relocate 12 homes so far this year due to the shocking change in the cliff face (SWNS)</em>
Bosses at the holiday home site have had to relocate 12 homes so far this year due to the shocking change in the cliff face (SWNS)

She said: “I thought we would at least see the year out here but with the weather and how quickly the cliff is eroding, we have been told we need to get out as soon as possible.

“Our home is directly on the cliff front so we have the best views possible, the views are incredible.

“It is such a shame. We knew when we bought the home this day would come but we didn’t think it would be so soon.

“We have been on the site for 33 years and seen many changes but this is the worst the erosion has ever been.”

<em>The coast is eroding at a rate of 2.3m per year according to the local council (SWNS)</em>
The coast is eroding at a rate of 2.3m per year according to the local council (SWNS)

Work is now due to begin on dismantling the couple’s property – which includes top of the range decking and skirting.

Mrs Speight said “helpful” management at the site and the local council had contacted them at the start of the year and they had since secured another plot two rows back.

A spokesman for East Riding Council said: “While the existing coastal defences in Hornsea protect part of the Longbeach site from erosion, to the south of these defences, the coast is eroding at a rate of approximately 2.3 metres a year, with a maximum individual loss of 8.76 metres.

“Over time, this erosion, which is monitored regularly, has resulted in the need to relocate or remove caravan pitches from the site.”