A £600,000 scheme to try to stop a cliff top hotel from falling into the sea and taking the main road into Blue Anchor with it appears to have crumbled.

West Somerset Council is poised to pull out of a plan to protect the fast-eroding coastline, citing the financial risks faced by the authority and "impossibly tight deadlines".

The council had been working in partnership with the owners of the Blue Anchor Hotel and Somerset County Council to draw up a plan to protect the cliffs.

Much of the hotel's garden is already out of bounds due to erosion, and with the B3191 running alongside the building, there are concerns that if the hotel is lost to the sea the road will almost certainly follow.

Some £200,000 had been pledged by the partners towards the cost of extending the sea wall, providing rock armour to break up the power of the waves and pinning certain sections of the cliff to improve stability.

The district council was hoping to secure the bulk of the funding from the Environment Agency, but in a letter sent to the hotel owners on Wednesday, the council said it faced no choice but to withdraw from the process.

The final decision will rest with the full council later this month but councillors will be recommended not to proceed any further with the bidding process.

Full report in the Free Press.