Second Lyme Regis chalet in danger of collapse (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Second Lyme Regis chalet in danger of collapse

4:07pm Wednesday 23rd January 2013 in News By Adrianne Maslen

A SECOND chalet is in danger of collapse at Ware Cliff in Lyme Regis and a third is showing signs of movement.

Movement in the cliffs behind has shunted the chalet forward, causing it to buckle in the middle.

It comes just weeks after a major landslide buckled the front stilts of the neighbouring chalet and left it sitting at an angle.

A third chalet in front of them is also at risk and geotechnical experts are on site today to assess the situation.

The land is owned by Lyme Regis Town Council but the chalets are privately owned.

Deputy town clerk John Wright said: “A chalet has been pushed forward and it’s buckling in the middle. “It is on a sort of platform and the base has been pushed forward, like the one that was pushed forward originally.

“I have spoken to the owners of the chalets and also the chalets below. They are aware that there’s a problem and there’s some movement.

“I don’t think it’s going to topple down the cliff but it could tip forward like the other one has at number 34.

“There might have been a little bit of movement at another chalet, which is directly below, and I am speaking with the owners to assess whether they think there has been any movement.

“I am meeting today with the geotechnical consultant Peter Chapman to assess the overall position.”

Mr Wright said he could not say either way if the two worst affected chalets are salvageable.

“I don’t want to pass a judgement on that because it’s really a judgement that needs to be taken by the owners,” he said. “The owner of number 34 is talking to his loss adjustors and I can’t pre-empt their decision.”

Recent wet weather caused several landslips in the Ware Cliff and Monmouth Beach areas at the end of December and the beginning of January.

There has been continuing movement in the area and the town council has been monitoring the situation.

Mr Wright said: “It’s because of the weather and because of the extreme water. “I’m not an expert but if you go on the cliff you see lots of mud sliding down in some locations. “It’s very much a product of the excess rain we’ve had.”

Mr Wright said in the next few weeks the council would be considering options to deal with the problem as a whole, but added that funding would be limited.

He said: “There needs to be a strategy for dealing with this and it’s something that the council will be looking at.

“The council needs to consider the issues in full based on my observations and particularly the observations of our consultant engineer. “We have to be reasonable here about the funding. To stabilise these cliffs would be a major engineering project, a multi-million pound project, which the council can’t fund.

“There are things that could potentially be done to improve drainage on the cliff.”