Britain’s beloved Jurassic Coast is eroding at an alarming rate, experts have warned.
Millions of holidaymakers descend on the 95-mile stretch of coastline which spans Dorset and east Devon each year.
Yet coastal erosion and extreme weather events are battering the iconic cliffs, generating unpredictable rockfalls and landslips in sections swamped with sunbathers during summer and walkers all year round.
Thousands of tonnes of cliff could suddenly collapse at any moment, experts warn, burying anything in its path.
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Sam Scriven, head of heritage and conservation at the Jurassic Coast Trust (JCT), which looks after the UNESCO World Heritage Site, told MailOnline: ‘I have never known there to be more rockfalls and events than this last winter.
‘It really took me by surprise as almost every area has seen some sort of incident.’
He added: ‘It gives you pause a little bit to think what is coming down the road this winter or the winter after that.’
Dozens of landslides and rockfalls have struck the Jurassic Coast since 2012, when the last fatality occurred.
Charlotte Blackman, of Derbyshire, was crushed to death when 400 tonnes of rock suddenly collapsed from a 160ft cliff near Burton Bradstock, two miles east of West Bay beach.
The 22-year-old was walking along the beach with her family when tragedy struck.
Charlotte Blackman, of Derbyshire, was crushed to death when 400 tonnes of rock suddenly collapsed from a 160ft cliff near Burton Bradstock, two miles east of West Bay beach. Boyfriend Matthew (left) recalled ‘boulders the size of haystacks’ which crushed Charlotte. Her body was found nine hours later
Warning signs have been put up at Hive beach, outside Burton Bradstock, to urge people to ‘stay away from the cliffs’
MailOnline analysis shows around 30 per cent of the 137 events, which the JCT states creates ‘the beautiful coastline we see today’, occurred within this same 5-mile section.
The British Geological Survey, which records landslides, said that the real number of events that have occurred since 2012 may be higher as it only tracks ones it has been alerted to.
Following the wrath of Storm Kathleen in April, the stretch between West Bay and Burton Bradstock experienced two massive rockfalls.
Thousands of tonnes of rock broke away from the cliff, with aerial photographs showing a 50ft pile of debris laden with boulders the size of double-decker buses.
Mr Scriven said that this particular stretch, immortalised in smash TV show Broadchurch and where hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to each year, has seen rockfalls become an annual event.
Previously, he claimed, there used to be ‘years and years’ between one incident and the next.
The JCT describes the coastline as ‘crumbling golden cliffs of sand where beaches shift and change and rocks fall’. This natural process, it states, reminds us ‘that this natural place hides dangers as well as pleasures’.
Along the beaches, signs warn visitors of the risk of death from rockfalls and instruct them to stay away from the cliffs at all times.
The area is particularly famous among fossil-hunters. As sections of the cliff fall to the ground and break apart, the preserved remains of dinosaur-age creatures are frequently found among the rubble.
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The Jurassic Coast is not alone in being ravaged by erosion.
The British Geological Survey estimates 30,000 homes nationwide are now within 25m danger zones.
Yet geologists say parts of the Jurassic coastline are particularly prone to landslips, mainly due to the rock structure.
Hundreds of types of variations of sedimentary rocks like sandstones, limestones and chalks stack on top of one another forming the iconic cliffs we see today.
More than ever before, parts of these cliffs are loosening because of natural processes on the rock such as rainfall, water acidity, wave erosion and high winds.
This has resulted in a large increase of unpredictable and potentially-lethal land movements where hundreds and thousands of tonnes of rock and earth fall.
Despite the bulk of landslips and rockfalls striking within the section between West Bay and Burton Bradstock, experts say it is impossible to predict where or when the next one could hit.
Erosion researcher Dr Riccardo Briganti, of the University of Nottingham, said: ‘We know the weather is changing and erosion is increasing.
‘But we absolutely cannot predict with any degree of certainty whatsoever where and when these landslides take place – we cannot talk about predictions.’
Mr Scriven said that while the coastline’s retreat inwards is a reason to be cautious, natural erosion should be expected and embraced.
He added: ‘These processes of erosion are not destructive, they are generating the coastline and are part and parcel of our beautiful landscape, but it does depend on where they are happening.’
Villagers along the famously eroding coastline have said they would rather ‘nature takes its course’ than install sea defences.
A reckless young couple risk their lives sunbathing underneath an unstable cliff in Burton Bradstock less than two weeks after a major rockfall earlier this year
BURTON BRADSTOCK 2022: The cliffs here are made up of sandstone rock that is porous and acts like a sponge with rainwater, which seeps down through it and weakens it over time
BURTON BRADSTOCK 2023: Last year, extreme weather saw thousands of tons of rock fall from the area around Burton Bradstock
BURTON BRADSTOCK 2024: As Britain’s weather patterns continue to change, experts fear these cliffs and many others could continue to erode and collapse at frightful pace
This, they argue, is down to the ‘astronomical costs’ of installing and maintaining beach structures and cliff support systems.
Installing defences such as sea walls and rock armour may also promote vegetation growth, which the Royal Geographical Society claims would ‘obscure the geology and fossils’ and potentially ‘threaten’ its status as a World Heritage Site.
Such defences, it notes, are the ‘main threat’ to cliff stability because they ‘disrupt the natural coastal processes of erosion and deposition’ that stabilise them.
Some defences already exist, such as timber groynes, long wooden structures that run from the top of the beach to the sea that prevent sand and sediment moving along the coastline.
Sixty-five sites dotted across the Jurassic Coast have been named as being at-risk of erosion by the Environment Agency (EA).
Officials have decided to let nature take its course at more than half of them. Only 10 will get new defences installed in the near future.
Baroness Brown, who sits on the UK climate change committee, has argued the ‘last thing’ that should be done is put in engineering structures to try and mitigate the erosion.
‘We have to make sure things are clearly signposted and people understand where they can and can’t go at different times,’ she told Radio Four in a 2021 interview.
‘Because the last thing you want to do is to be putting in place the engineering structures, such as seas walls or the piles of rocks that help take the energy out of the waves, or the rock armour at the base of the cliffs.’
However, in 2018, the committee on which Ms Brown sits took aim at the Government in a damning report which found efforts to prevent the dangers of coastal erosion ‘unfit for purpose’.
Professor Ian Townend, based at the University of Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre Southampton, added that while defences could improve some parts of the coast, it is likely to cause issues elsewhere.
He said: ‘If you defend a length of cliff coast with a vertical wall, that is going to stop loss of material at the base of the cliff.
‘But the rest of cliff will keep moving and you can’t stop that.
Hikers peer over the edge of the crumbling cliff at West Bay in April 2022
‘We’ve got to make choices – we can spend millions on tonnes of sand to make sure you’ve still got a beach or build a new hospital.
‘There’ll always be groups who want areas closed down because of the risk but the reality is those resources could be better used elsewhere.’
Edward Morello, MP for West Dorset on the Jurassic Coast, described the pattern of erosion on the coast as ‘deeply concerning’.
He told MailOnline: ‘Protecting the history and beauty the Jurassic Coast holds has to be a priority for the government’s environmental policy and the increases in the damage our coast is suffering is deeply concerning.
‘We have to strengthen to Office for Environmental Protection so that it has the powers to protect our beautiful coastline and get the Environment Agency and Natural England the funding they need so they can look after this important part of our nation’s heritage.’
Dorset Council were also contacted for comment.