ON THE EDGE
Ex-soldier forced to move his entire clifftop home for SECOND time as shock pics show ground crumbling beneath property
AN ex-squaddie is being forced to move his entire clifftop home for a second time as shocking pictures show the ground crumbling beneath his property.
When Lance Martin bought his dream home in Hemsby, Norfolk, just under five years ago surveyors told him he wouldn't have to worry about coastal erosion for 30 years.
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But superstorms the Beast from the East in 2018 and Storm Darcy in 2021 have eroded so much land that Lance's garden collapsed onto the beach below, according to the .
Living along Hembsby's coastline has become so dangerous that neighbours had to be evacuated - with Lance being the only person left still living in the area.
His home now sits just 10 metres from the cliff edge and that's after he spent tens of thousands of pounds lifting his home 10 metres inland in May 2018 using an industrial winch.
The 64-year-old former solider estimates he's already stumped up £100,000 into fortifying his home - dubbed "Dune Fall" - which is more than the £95,000 he paid for it in 2017.
And in two years' time, he'll have to move his 60 tonne-home all over again - but Lance has no regrets.
"I'd do it all again at the drop of a hat," he told the Mirror.
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"I’ve had four years of a fantastic lifestyle around here, and long may it continue. You just have to have a sense of humour about it."
When the dad-of-one relocated from London, his was one of 13 homes near the clifftop.
Now, 11 have been knocked down while the other surviving home was abandoned in 2018.
"The rate of erosion was deemed to be around a metre a year, which would have given me 30 to 40 years, but then the Beast from the East knocked around 30 to 40 metres off the back of me," the ex Granadier Guardsman said.
Lance teamed up with volunteers to shore up his home by placing large boulders on the beach below using a JCB but faces doing it all over again after recent storms battered the coastline.
He said: "It’s worrying, I do get a bit stressed about it. What I tend to do is I’ve got a portable floodlight, I leave that on so I can see my defences and check they’re ok.
"Once I’m sure nothing too serious is going to happen I go to bed, I sleep very well, believe me.
"I’ve done everything within my power to mitigate any damage, so if it isn’t enough then it’s all my fault."
Lance had hoped vital coastal defence work costing £9m could prevent him for having to move his home again but is now resigned to having to do it.
The mammoth move will either be done by dragging the building using a grid of RSJs or a huge crane - all to the tune of up to £10,000.
He estimates he'll then be 60 metres away from the cliff-edge.
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"If you watch some of these programmes from Alaska and Canada, they move buildings bigger than mine every day," he said.
"Where there’s a will, there’s a way."
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