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Recorded landslip levels along South West coast unprecedented

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An "unprecedented" number of landslips took place along the South West coast during the winter, according to the latest figures.

The South West Coast Path Association said 30 slips and cliff falls have been recorded since November – a tenfold increase on figures during a normal year.

Sections of coastline in Devon and Cornwall remain closed to the public, after nine months of torrential rainfall brought havoc to the region last year.

Association spokesman Steve Church said the unprecedented number of falls was alarming.

"Thirty-odd cliff falls around the whole of the cliff path – not just Devon – is an unprecedented number and they still seem to be coming at the moment, unfortunately, so it's all a bit alarming," he told the BBC.

"The difficulty is knowing exactly when things have stabilised enough to be actually ablt to attempt a long-term reinstatement. I hope we're getting to that stage."

Between 2007 and 2012 there were 11 major cliff falls that resulted in a diversion of the coast path.

The association, which supports and promotes the path, said prolonged rainfall had made the cliffs along it far more unstable than normal.

Last week thousands of tonnes of earth and sandstone fell from the cliffs at Oddicombe in Torbay – turning the sea red and taking with it part of a house at the centre of a legal dispute.

The incident was the latest in a series of rock falls in Torbay to all-but destroy Ridgemont House – a cliff-top house bought three years ago for £154,500.

Three weeks ago a woman was found dead in a house in Looe, Cornwall, after it collapsed in a landslide triggered by torrential rain.

In another recent landslide two women become trapped on a beach at Ness Cove, near Shaldon, South Devon, when a cliff collapsed on to a path. They were eventually able to climb off the beach on ladders amid fears they could be buried if the unstable cliff collapsed again.

The coastpath, which is 630 miles long (1,014km), starts at Minehead in Somerset, following the entire South West peninsula, covering Devon and Cornwall's north and south coasts, all the way to Poole Harbour in Dorset.

Recorded landslip levels along South West coast unprecedented


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