Family clears home at cliff site

Land crumbles away under a conservatory at Cayton Bay

A second family has had to move belongings from their home which is teetering on the edge of a landslip at Cayton Bay in North Yorkshire.

Thousands of tonnes of earth have slipped away in front of a number of homes leaving them on a cliff edge.

Some gardens and patios at Knipe Point are now in a heap 100ft (30.4m) below the homes on the National Trust land.

A spokesperson for National Trust said the landslip was not due to coastal erosion but an unknown water source.

The land slip itself is caused by water for the most part National Trust property manager Bob Dicker

One week ago insurers told one family to move out as the landslip advanced.

When the first family were told to move out of their home, National Trust property manager Bob Dicker said: "We know that this land is slipping, we know it's very active at the present time, but to put a scale on it at this stage would be unwise. We don't have enough information."

"The land slip itself is caused by water for the most part, there may be other causative agents, but mainly water," he added.

Mr Dicker said engineers were trying to find the source of the water that had caused the slip.

"What we don't know is where is the water coming from and what sources there are in the immediate area," he said.

He added that the land slippage had been happening in "fits and starts" and there had been quite a bit of activity for the last two or three months.