Sandown fury

I learn from Microsoft News this morning that planning fury has erupted at Sandown on the Isle of Wight, just along from where we are accustomed to take our holidays at Brading. It seems that we do not have a monopoly on this sort of thing here in leafy Epsom.

It also seems that the sometime owners of a house, perched on a cliff at the southern end of Sandown, at some point installed a rather ugly viewing platform at the top of the cliff, connected by a short tunnel to its garden. A tunnel which must run under the cliff path. The current (second home) owners of the house, for the greater comfort of their guests, now want to extend that tunnel to the basement of their house. And they have been given permission so to do. Much sound and fury. Much talk of disturbing the fragile cliff.

It all seems a bit silly to me, more money than sense or taste, but dangerous or something to work oneself up into righteous anger about, no. 

A pity that the viewing platform was built in the first place - but then the fringes of seaside resorts are littered with strange and wonderful constructions. Some of them occupied by strange and wonderful people, perhaps weak on baths and personal hygiene, strong on hair and recreational substances. Not that the owners of this house look to be in this category.

The house marked (for some reason) as No.2. The rather crooked platform visible to the right.

Location map. Blob marks the spot, very handy to the railway station at Lake. The fine beach at Yaverland, often mentioned in these pages, upper right. Brading off the top of the map.

No Street View, which appears to have been defeated by the cliff path, although you do get the start of it.

References

Reference 1: Fury as Sandown couple allowed to build 25ft underground tunnel in crumbling Isle of Wight cliff - Elly Blake, Daily Mail - 2022.

Reference 2: https://www.willdax.com/. The photographer. Hopefully he has done alright out of his drone pic, the news having made it through to both the Telegraph and the Times.

Reference 3: https://www.solentnews.co.uk/news. The agency. Not much to be had for free from here!