Back from the brink!
Saved, clifftop house just 3ft from oblivion
A FORMER soldier has dramatically saved his clifftop house from the wrecking ball after dragging it back from the abyss.
Lance Martin’s chalet had been left just 3ft from a 50ft drop after the rapid erosion of the sandy coastline.
But the ex- Grenadier Guard presided over a rescue operation carried out with military precision that saved his wooden home with moments to spare yesterday.
As local authority officers approached with an order to raze the chalet before it smashed on to the beach below, two diggers dragged it free from its concrete foundations, moving it 10ft back to safety.
Mr Martin, 65, greeted the last gasp victory by raising his arms in celebration before hugging some of the contractors.
‘It’s given us the breathing space we need. Now we’ve shown it can be moved we can make arrangements to move the house across the road after we have cleared the site,’ he said.
He had been given a ‘high noon’ deadline by Great Yarmouth Borough Council, telling him that if the contractors were unable to move the house by 12pm, the council would consider issuing a demolition order.
Mr Martin’s army of friends and neighbours – and contractors borrowed from a nearby holiday park in Hemsby, Norfolk – toiled all day Wednesday and yesterday
morning to get the chalet to shift – although their success did come at the cost of some damage to the building. Mr Martin bought the house for £95,000 in 2017 when it was far from the sea. Yesterday’s drama came after three homes along the same beach were demolished at the weekend.