Aerial images show demolition of fourth clifftop home amid coastal erosion

Aerial images show the demolition of a fourth clifftop home in a seaside village, with rock defences failing to protect the property from coastal erosion.

TV producer Lucy Ansbro said it was “too painful” to speak about the loss of her home in Thorpeness, Suffolk.

She had spent around £500,000 on rock defences in 2021 but this week her home was demolished following erosion over the weekend.

Two homes in Thorpeness were demolished last year, and two more have been demolished this month.

Speaking in 2023 as she welcomed a new online map tool highlighting areas at risk from coastal erosion, Ms Ansbro said homeowners “need to know how quickly change can happen if you live on vulnerable parts of the coast”.

“Surveys and solicitors’ checks don’t include erosion but I was aware there was a threat of erosion when I bought this house in 2009,” she said, as she welcomed One Home’s England’s Communities Under Threat Interactive Map.

“However, I never dreamed it would be this severe.

“No research I did suggested it would ever happen this quickly.

“The worst-case scenario predicted losing five metres to the sea within 50 years, but in fact, I lost five metres in 2020 alone.”

Susan Allen, who lives nearby in Thorpeness, said when asked about the speed of the erosion: “Three weeks ago you wouldn’t have thought about it.”

The 78-year-old, who worked in the fashion industry, said she bought her property as a holiday home in 1972 and moved to Thorpeness full time in 1986.

“The village has grown up around me,” she said.

“It’s gone from a residential village to a holiday village but contrary to the publications, the homes that have been lost this time are not holiday homes.

“It’s all people who’ve been living here.

“These are our homes.

“We’re here 52 weeks of the year.

“When you lose a home, all these nasty things that are being put on social media like ‘oh what does it matter, it’s a second home’.

“It’s our home. It’s not a second home.”

She continued: “How quickly… three weeks ago you wouldn’t have thought about it.

“We’ve always known that there’s a risk but nothing like this.

“We’re all just living in fear.

“When’s it going to be your turn.”

An East Suffolk Council spokesperson said in an earlier statement: “This is an incredibly difficult time for those residents whose homes have already been demolished and for those who may face this difficulty in the coming weeks.”

The spokesperson said there “are no viable long-term solutions to stop the erosion at Thorpeness” but “we continue to work around the clock with residents, the Environment Agency and the local MP to tackle this developing situation and to consider any potential short-term solutions which may slow the erosion”.