EMERGENCY repair work is to take place to a section of cliff at Felixstowe following the third landslide in the area in a decade.Council engineers are constantly monitoring the cliffs between the Spa Pavilion and Bath Hill for movement because they are crumbling away, slowly being eroded by wind and rain.

EMERGENCY repair work is to take place to a section of cliff at Felixstowe following the third landslide in the area in a decade.

Council engineers are constantly monitoring the cliffs between the Spa Pavilion and Bath Hill for movement because they are crumbling away, slowly being eroded by wind and rain.

Ten years ago the Spa Pavilion was engulfed in a mudslide and had to be evacuated after cliffs collapsed behind the theatre. Hundreds of thousands of pounds were spent on reshaping the cliffs and part of a popular path was lost.

Two years ago, problems were encountered below Harvest House and major work had to be carried out to improve the stability of the cliffs, regrading the area and using netted planting to try to keep erosion at bay.

Now there has been a small landslide alongside the steps leading from the top of Cambridge Road to the Spa Gardens.

Metal fencing has been put in place at the top of the cliff in Hamilton Gardens and part of a walkway closed with plastic mesh fencing going down to the seafront where sand and clay has slid down the cliff.

Felixstowe Town Council was told that Suffolk Coastal is already onto the problem and has drawn up plans to regrade the cliff to leave it at a more manageable angle.

This will include having to cut away part of the cliff at the top, which will mean 1.3 metres of the path along the top of it in Hamilton Gardens will be lost. The stone wall at the bottom of the affected area of cliff will also be repaired.

The town council's plans committee had no objection to the work, which will be carried out as soon as possible.

Committee vice chairman Mike Stokell said the area had suffered from a degree of instability over the years.

He said: "Suffolk Coastal is very aware of the problems along there and this work will pin it back until the next problem comes along.

"We are pleased the district council is getting to grips with the problem very quickly indeed and we welcome the work as it will protect the Spa Gardens, which are one of Felixstowe's greatest assets."

The cliffs have natural spa water flowing from them in some places, which does not help their stability. In Roman times they were said to stretch up to a mile further out to sea.

Do you remember the mudslide ten years ago? Write to us at Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk