THE National Trust is to meet worried cliff-top residents threatening legal action against the organisation for doing nothing to stop their homes crashing into the sea.

Each year, the cliff edge at Birling Gap creeps one yard closer to a row of cottages and a nearby hotel.

One cottage has already crumbled into the sea. A second has been demolished.

More than 250,000 people visit the beauty spot near Eastbourne every year.

The National Trust, which owns the land, is refusing to take emergency measures to stop the erosion which will, within decades, claim all that stands there.

But now locals are preparing to take National Trust chiefs to court in their battle to safeguard the future of the hamlet.

The Birling Gap Cliff Protection Association believes the Trust should have acted long ago to avert imminent disaster.

They have sent a letter to the Trust's office for Kent and East Sussex saying they will proceed with legal action on Friday unless their demands are met.

Association solicitor Jeanette Taylor said: "We will take action against the National Trust unless they come up with firm proposals.

"The purpose of the National Trust is to protect these areas."

NT chiefs, however, argue that building sea defences by dumping giant ten-tonne boulders at the foot of the cliff will be an eyesore and would disturb natural shoreline processes.

NT spokesman Paul Pontone said a meeting will take place with the residents on Friday.

But he added: "It is now considered more practical and environmentally friendly to try to work with nature rather than against it.

"The Trust is currently investigating ways in which the effects on individual residents will be minimised over time.

"It is also anxious to ensure that the 250,000 visitors to Birling Gap each year will continue to enjoy access to local facilities, including the beach.

"The Trust cares for some 565 miles of coastline in England and Wales, and its experience has been that building sea defences usually creates more problems than it solves and is unsustainable in the long term."

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