Government inspector gives go-ahead to build homes on Yorkshire cliff edge

New sea defences were installed four years ago protecting a short stretch in Withernsea, which lies on Europe’s fastest-eroding coastline.

The £7m scheme, using rock shipped from Norway, extended the current defences by 400 metres.

Neighbours argued that a land slip remained a possibility and that building work could damage their own homes. East Riding Council refused the outline planning application on the grounds it was in the open countryside.

However, the inspector overturned the council's refusal, describing the area as an “undeveloped area of grassland that, at the time of my site visit, was of low quality and not used for any discernible purpose”.

The appeal site forms part of a larger triangular-shaped field and residents fear the rest of it could now be developed.

The inspector said a wide range of concerns, from overshadowing of neighbouring properties and the previous refusal of planning applications on the land, had been considered.

He stated: “The right to a view is not a material planning consideration.

The potential unauthoriseduse of the appeal site and the surrounding area and the potential involvement of the council’s enforcement team, should I be minded to allow the appeal, are not material to the determination of the appeal”.

Residents had taken photographs purporting to show that erosion was still happening but the inspector said they were unclear and during a site visit he “was unable to distinguish any erosion to the cliff face behind the sea defences fronting the appeal site”.

He said he had been informed about other nearby housing developments but “this does not prevent other windfall housing developments from being approved.”

Deputy Mayor Ian Blackburn said the town council had supported residents who objected to the development.

It comes as the first major housing scheme in Withernsea for decades gets under way in Hollym Road.

Just under 200 “low-cost quality homes” are being built as part of the Sands Reach scheme.

Coun Blackburn said there was a lack of facilities to support new development.

He said: "We are not nimbys. We need new houses to bring people into town to spend money but we also need the facilities –a second doctor's surgery, more police. The police station closes at 6pm.

"For hospitals you have to go to Hull or Castle Hill."

A total of 63,000 tonnes of anorthosite, a rock similar to granite, was shipped from Norway and unloaded on the beach near Golden Sands Holiday Park in 2020.

The interlocking structure is designed to prevent wave action from reaching the cliffs, so reducing coastal erosion.