£2m project to save crumbling cliffs in Essex begins

• Watch a video report by ITV Anglia's Russell Hookey

A two million pound project to save crumbling cliffs in Essex has begun.

Around 200 metres of cliff face has slipped at Holland-on-Sea near Clacton since February last year.

Breheny Civil Engineering have started the £2.1 million project on behalf of Tendring District Council.

In April with the Cabinet decided to reallocate the £1.5million Beach Recharge Reserve to fund this urgent work. 

More than a dozen beach huts have been moved for their protection. 

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Alex Porter, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Tourism at Tendring District Council said: "We've got a cliff stabilisation process underway, it is going to regrade the cliffs so its a much shallower slope and put some steel in to stop the cliff slipping any longer. It's been slipping for around 18 months and we've got to make sure we sure that up."

A different section of cliffs was stabilised under a £5m scheme in 2018-9.

The area is also protected from the North Sea with rock breakwaters but it is surface water running through the cliffs which is causing the current problem.

Steve Dighton from Breheny Civil Engineering said: "If it wasn't stabilised and repaired there's the risk that it would continue to keep on slipping and gradually the path would go, then some of the grass verge, then the road and potentially move towards the houses as well, so it is essential work to be done."

The council says the soft ground conditions mean that it's likely further stretches of coast will need work in the future.

Work is scheduled for completion in early 2022 and the current project should safeguard this area for at least another 50 years.