Whipsiderry Cliffs: Controversial scheme for holiday lets on Cornwall clifftop paused until 2024

Campaigners hoping to stop a luxury clifftop housing development from being built in Newquay are celebrating their "first victory" after the developer's works licence was suspended.

Developer Living Quarter Properties Porth has been given planning permission to build seven holiday homes on top of Whipsiderry Cliffs.

The firm started work on the beach below the site earlier this year, craning diggers onto the sand to pull rocks from the beach to backfill the cliff caves.

Part of the beach was fenced off for the work, which also involves drilling into the rock and filled with concrete to shore up the cliff face.

The scheme has proved controversial, with some saying it will destroy the beach and damage the cliffs and the wildlife that lives there.

Earlier this year, a protest saw more than 100 people march on the beach in protest.

Work at Whipsiderry Cliffs halted

The work had already been put on hold after the Duchy of Cornwall withdrew the developer's access to its land.

This resulted in a temporary halt to the works but is understood to have reinstated its permission since then.

But it has now been delayed by another five months after fears the works would make the cliff too unstable.

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has stopped the work from resuming again this year. A report will now be carried out on whether the work will pose a risk.

The MMO said they have suspended the developer's license for the cliff works until the end of January 2023 so it can “conduct an independent geotechnical analysis of the cliff, to identify whether the works as licensed (including the existing conditions) are geotechnically sound in order to fulfil their purpose”.

Lyndsey Young of the Save Whipsiderry Group said: “This license suspension is a direct result of the ongoing work and activity from the Save Whipsiderry group, our instructed solicitors and the wider community.

"Since reaching our initial fund-raising target of £10,000, we instructed solicitors and a barrister to support us in our case.

“Whilst this is a positive step forward and proves the MMO have taken our evidence and correspondence into account, this is only a license suspension until 31 January 2024," she continued.

"We will, along with the support of our solicitors and the wider community, continue to explore all the possible avenues, to ultimately bring a permanent stop to the destruction of the cliffs at Whipsiderry.”

Andrew Robey, a spokesperson for the Save Whipsiderry Group added: “The Duchy of Cornwall ought to consider whether they are happy to give the green light to something so destructive as this.

"The whole community is against this work, and by giving permission to use their land, they are ignoring public opinion and contradicting their own environmental, community-led and sustainability policies."

Andrew continues: “Now is not the time to lift the pressure. This is a small battle won, in a much bigger war, and we need the public to help us to win this. We ask that the community continues to back us and offer their support where they can”

Living Quarter Properties Porth has been approached for comment.