Residents have been left shocked by the amount of soil and dirt that has fallen from one of the town’s cliffs.
Around 1,000 tons of soil and dirt has come away from a Sidmouth cliff in what is believed to be one of the biggest falls in years.
Concerned residents have been coming and going from the area near to Pennington Point since the incident, on Saturday, which saw a tree and part of the end of a resident’s garden ripped away.
Paul Griew, the Cliff Road Action Group’s president, said it was only around a month ago that his summer house, along with six metres off the end of his garden, fell from the cliff.
He added the cheapest and most effective way to fix the problem, which would be to put a line of rocks at the bottom of the cliff, had been dismissed twice by Natural England.
Mr Griew said: “I get very frustrated about it all. We have had more falls in the last three to four months than in years.
“I feel sorry it has been allowed to happen and that there is an appropriate and obvious way that is available to stop it.”
An 84-year-old Sidmouth resident, who lives close to the cliffs, said: “Well, it is going to happen – it is nature. I don’t see how they can stop it.
“I was waiting for it to get to that tree. I thought it would take a bit longer.”
Another said: “It looks like 500 to 1,000 tons of soil and dirt has come away. You can look at it now and see a crack.
“That is a big one by comparison to what is normal… I wasn’t really shocked to see such a big fall. You could see the cracks in March.
“It has been barricaded off by the council but on Saturday afternoon there were three people sat on the beach about 20 yards away from it.”
Biddy Miller, who has recently bought a house at the top of the cliff, said the fall was from her neighbour’s garden and happened around 5am.
“When I woke up and I looked out the window I thought something seemed strange and then I noticed there was no tree,” she added.
“We bought the house knowing there was a cliff problem. We are hoping something will be done soon but we are not too concerned about it.”
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