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These dramatic images show a 50 metre-long crack in east coast cliffs, just metres from holiday homes at Hornsea.

The rupture is the worst seen at the clifftop Longbeach Leisure Park, where at least six holiday homes have already been relocated this year to escape erosion.

Holiday home owner Mark Mattison, 51, says: “It’s the biggest crack I have ever seen and I have been here since 2003.

“I think the government, the council or whoever is involved, should put some defences up.

“The amount of land they are losing and the speed it’s going now, it’s not good for business or the locals.”

Mr Mattison fears people on the beach could be at risk from cliff falls along the crumbling Holderness coastline.

He says: “We have a warden on this site who checks it every day and anything we see, we report it.

“But if anything, it’s the people down on the beach who don’t realise.

Watch: What is coastal erosion?

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“Yesterday, there were students down there doing coastal erosion studies and there were a lot of dog walkers.

“If it does go, obviously there could be tragic circumstances. A little bit went down at the back end of yesterday. Little bits go all the time.”

(Image: HullLive)

Mr Mattison’s holiday home is not among the nearest to the 50-metre long crack but he still faces relocation from his latest cliff top caravan at the site.

He says: “We bought this one about a month and a half ago, just before the council came round and said it needs moving.”

Watch: 17 things you only know if you live near the beach

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Another holiday home owner, Mervin Bryan, 73, says: “This is the worst crack I have seen here.

“We walk our dogs towards Mappleton quite a lot and have seen the deterioration right along, it’s really coming down.

“It’s an act of nature, I don’t think you could do a lot about it.”

Chris Wilson, manager at Longbeach Leisure Park, says the biggest single loss of cliff edge in recent years, recorded in 2008, was a width of 8.76m.

The holiday caravans nearest to the new rupture, in the Eastfield area of the site, will now be re-located, taking the total number of relocations to 12 so far this year.

Mr Wilson says: “We are doing daily checks, we have gauges and we are monitoring it.

“This certainly looks more dramatic than anything we have had in recent years.

“The three caravans nearest to it will be moved imminently. That will take us to 12 this year. Last year we only moved a couple.

“The last couple of months has been the worst period of erosion in recent years.

“Certainly a talking point has been the hot summer of last year that’s dried out all the clay.”

East Riding Councillor Barbara Jefferson has raised the issue with the council and has been told officials visited the site recently to look at erosion and discuss health and safety issues.

Cllr Jefferson says: “I asked the council to check the situation. Safety is paramount.

“Officers can’t be too careful with people’s lives. Although it keeps happening, it’s the same all the way down the coast.

She says: “It’s very concerning to the people who live here and who visit.”

East Riding Council says its coastal engineers will visit the site to assess it.

A council spokesman says: “While the existing coastal defences in Hornsea protect part of the Longbeach site from erosion, to the south of these defences, the coast is eroding at a rate of approximately 2.3 metres a year, with a maximum individual loss of 8.76 metres.

“Over time, this erosion, which is monitored regularly, has resulted in the need to relocate or remove caravan pitches from the site.”

The council says it is working with landowners in coastal erosion areas to ensure the risks to people are minimised.

Visitors to the coast are urged to keep away from cliff edges and the bottom of cliffs.

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