Work to begin to protect beauty spot

Cottages at Cuckmere Haven will be restored

Plans to protect a treasured beauty spot in Sussex have been given the go ahead.

On my radio show this week, I spoke with Lucy Mutter, whose great-grandfather was the last coastguard officer stationed at Cuckmere Haven. 

She said: “We, alongside the other residents there, have been fighting for forever to protect those cottages and yesterday we had the fantastic news that the South Downs National Park Authority have given us permission to do the repairs that we need to protect them.”

She said the next step is to look carefully at the conditions that have been set by the National Park to see how the work can be carried out. She and the other conservationists will launch a fundraising initiative in order to find a contractor and designer to carry out the work.

The current restrictions imposed during the pandemic will impact in how that is done, she said. Previously, the campaigners have done heritage open days and taken part in the Lapwing music festival.

“We are going to have to be quite inventive,” Lucy Mutter said, pointing out that there is a donate button on the Cuckmere Haven SOS website, which also has beautiful photographs and details of the interesting history of the area.