THE cost of stabilising North Hill, Minehead, to prevent rocks falling onto homes has been put at up to £1 million.

But Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT), which owns most of the hill, does not know if it will be able to find the money for the work.

Consultants WSP has been appointed on a £62,000 contract to design a slope stabilisation scheme for the hill, which should be finished next month.

The firm is working on the idea of a high tensile steel fence tol be installed along the base of the cliff above houses in Quay Street.

The fence will be designed to ‘catch’ any falling debris such as soil, stones, and rocks.

SWT environment portfolio holder Cllr Andy Sully said abseiling techniques were used because of the ‘severity’ of the slope to carry out investigations which led to an initial report outlining the preferred design solution.

Cllr Sully said it was considered the most effective solution given the difficulty of working on a cliff face which was near vertical in places.

He said the project was estimated to cost between £750,000 and £1 million and once the design was finished the council would go out to tender if finance was available to deliver the scheme.

The Free Press has asked SWT what would happen if the money could not be found in time.