Cliff fall triggers evacuation from five homes

Family escape with their lives after cliff fall on the Isle of Sheppey

Homeowners on the coast of the Isle of Sheppey in Kent say that they fear further rock falls after collapsing cliffs left 20 people homeless over the weekend.

The home of a family-of-six was torn in half, when a major section of the cliff at Eastchurch broke away. The family car slid down the cliffside. A neighbour told ITV Meridian, that she thought the family had escaped with just the clothes on their backs.

The dozens people living along the top of the cliffs at Eastchurch have spent years campaigning for their parts of the coastline to be shored up with netting and made more stable. They say the measures taken are too little and too late.

In a statement, Swale Borough Council said it was opposed to the Environment Agency's existing shoreline management plan, which includes "no active intervention to defend this area".

However, the Environment Agency has said that the cost of major intervention can not be justified.

  • Watch a report by John Ryall: