RESIDENTS in a seaside village have been left teetering on the edge of a cliff after a landslide the "size of a football pitch" plunged into the sea.

Hundreds of tons of sand and soil slipped away from the 130ft high cliffs and crashed onto the beach at Mundesley, Norfolk, in the early hours of Thursday.

The fall, which followed ten days of heavy rain in the area, trimmed around 4ft away from the end of the clifftop garden of an Edwardian house converted into five flats.

But tenants living inside are refusing to panic – and insist they will carry on living in the same spot.

Sarah Cameron, 54, who lives in a ground floor flat, said: “This is a lovely place to live and I am going to stay here 100%. These cliff falls happen and we expect them.

“We know the properties here are going to succumb to the elements at some point, but I don’t think it is going to happen for some time yet.

“There is no point in worrying about it because there is nothing we can do.”

Anthony Lloyd, 31, who pays £500-a-month for his two bed flat, added: “My place is the other side of the house furthest away from the sea so I have less to worry about.

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“It was a massive avalanche.

“I think we lost around 1.5m from the top of the cliff so that means the flats are even closer to the edge of the cliff.”

There are hopes that a £7million scheme to shore up sea defences at Mundesley and nearby Cromer next year will help prevent further coastal erosion.

And retired council officers Lynne and Rik Hammond are determined to stay in their semi-detached house at the top of the cliff.

Mrs Hammond, 61, said: “We knew there was a risk when we moved here, but this is the first big landslip that there has been.

There is no point worrying about it because there is nothing we can do.

“It might happen again. You just don’t know, but we are pretty confident that this house will be here longer than we are.

“It is worth living here because of the views we wake up to every morning. Every day the sea looks different and I wouldn’t swap it for anything.”

Mr Hammond, 67, added: “Of course you have to be worried about rising sea levels due to the environmental crisis, but I don’t think we have too much to worry about here.

“I think this collapse was caused more by the heavy rain over the last ten days rather than anything the sea has done.”

'SIZE OF FOOTBALL PITCH'

The landslide flattened a section of wooden sea defences below the cliff and has left the beach impassable at high tide.

Bev Reynolds, who is a member of a local group that campaigns to protect steps from the clifftop to the beach, said the section of cliff that fell was “at least the width of a football pitch”.

She said that rock armour sea defences were due to be built in the area next year and were desperately needed.

She added: “Obviously that won't stop this sort of thing happening when the rain is behind it, but it will be a relief when the work is finished.”

Retired cement depot manager Phil Gager, 71, who lives on the cliff, said Cliff falls in the area are "very rare" but admitted this was "quite a big one".

“The last big one was when my mum was alive 20-years-ago," he said.

“I would say we have lost about 15m from the cliff in the last 60 years, but things seem to have stabilised.

“It doesn’t bother me because I think this house will be see me out.”

Coastguards based at Bacton blamed the “substantial” landslide on the cliffs having been made unstable by recent heavy rain, and warned people to stay away from the beach.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it was “not believed that anybody living close to the location is in danger”.

A spokesman added: “The UK’s coastline is continually eroding, with pieces falling from cliffs that can be just a few small rocks or falls of hundreds of tons, including rocks the size of a car.

“It’s impossible to predict when the next piece might fall or how big it will be.”

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