Demolition begins on cliff homes

Families have been told to move out of their home by insurers

Demolition has begun on a row of houses left teetering on a cliff edge after a landslip in North Yorkshire.

Bulldozers moved in on Monday after residents were told to evacuate their homes at Knipe Point overlooking Cayton Bay, near Scarborough.

People were told to leave after gardens and patios crumbled and fell 100ft (30.4m) below the houses which are built on National Trust land.

The National Trust said it was investigating why the land has slipped.

Land disappeared

A previous report found the natural drainage processes and the impact of water seepage from nearby developed land were factors causing the slump.

After two weeks of further slips houses nearest to the cliff edge are to be demolished first.

Mary Lloyd, who has a holiday home on the coastal estate, said: "There was no way we could stay or sleep in it.

"The chap from the council said we must not be inside because he said he doesn't want a couple of deaths on his hands."

Other residents said the loss of homes was inevitable after more of the land disappeared over the edge into the wood between the cliffs and the North Sea.