Villagers nearly cut off from civilisation after a massive storm destroyed their coastal road are dismayed after being totally left out of a £1.4billion government coastal defence package.

Torcross was nearly cut off from the rest South Devon when the A379 – known as the Slapton Line – was washed into the sea when Storm Imogen smashed into its shores in February.

Local Howard Garner, 73, said he felt ‘abandoned’ by the government’s decision to leave Torcross and nearby Beesands out of the coastal protection funding.

He has lived in Torcross all his life and runs a holiday let on the hill above Start Bay where homes are still being pummelled by the unruly sea, more than a month after the storm that wrecked the road.

He said: ‘If government funding was not made available, apart from the loss of people’s homes and livelihoods, one of the jewels in the crown for tourism will be lost in the Southwest.’

Estimates say that £18million is needed to restore the road which has collapsed into the sea three times already in 2001, 2016 and 2019, but it is uncertain if it will be found. The village now only has one road in and out. 

Mr Garner described the devastation that Torcross is still suffering a month on from the storm.

The beach was a vital natural defence against the sea but it was stripped away from the steel piles built to shore up the coastline since the 1980s.

Torcross is was paritally cut off from the rest of the world after the 200 metre section fell into the sea in February but has been left out of a £1.4billion government fund for coastal and flood protection

‘If government funding was not made available, apart from the loss of people’s homes and livelihoods, one of the jewels in the crown for tourism will be lost in the Southwest,’ Mr Garner said

The A379 between Torcross and Slapton in South Devon has collapsed into the sea after Storm Imogen devastated the area in February

 He said: ‘The waves have been slamming up against the pilings, and vibrating right the way through the houses.

‘So, the depletion of the beaches not only has meant the spray that has been coming over and damaged the roofs of the houses, but the vibration has been very worrying for them as well.

‘It must be quite traumatic for them right on the coast when the storms hit, and it’s often at night.

‘Cracks have been forming on some of the walls there they’ve had water in the houses. You can imagine stumbling over furniture in the middle of the night trying to get out of the house.’

Mr Garner said destruction of the Slapton Line itself is also a major hit to the local economy, to the tune of ‘millions’.

It now takes double the time to get to Slapton, the town over on the coast down ‘very narrow’ lanes rather than an easy scenic drive on the coastal route, he said.

 ‘There’s very little alternative because the vital link along the coast road here is just lanes inland, and they’re very narrow lanes.’

He added: ‘It is worth a lot to the local economy, millions, and I suppose a lot of us locals feel that it’s a  good investment for, you know, them to put the road back, into use, and to protect it a bit from the sea.’

Gail Stubbs, 47, runs the Start Bay Arms pub, right on the seafront. It was damaged by Storm Imogen with paving stones on the seafront being ripped up and shutters being broken several times over the winter by bad weather.

Gail Stubbs’ (pictured) ancient thatched pub dates back to the 1400s but she is worried that it won’t be able to take many more storms like this after being heavily damaged in Storm Imogen

Damage left behind at the Start Bay Inn following the storm

She said: ‘Torcross won’t survive another winter without emergency funding to reinforce the sea defences in front of the village.

‘Families are living with structural damage, some properties are uninhabitable. We have to close and evacuate the pub during storms.’

 She added: ‘Since the beach level has dropped so much, the vibrating and shaking and, the danger to life has become a lot higher.

‘We’re having to carry out our emergency storm plan when there’s just a 20mph wind forecast rather than when there’s an actual storm with warnings everyone knows about. We need boulders in front of the village.’

Mrs Stubbs said she ‘wouldn’t rule out walls collapsing and some houses being demolished’ next winter if nothing is done.

‘We desperately need help here’, she said.

Lib Dem MP for the area Caroline Voaden has said she was ‘deeply disappointed’ by the omission of Torcross and Beesands in the funding.

She said: ‘I am deeply disappointed that Torcross and Beesands haven’t been included in this year’s funding.

‘I have repeatedly made clear to Ministers that the survival of these villages depends on restoring their coastal defences before another winter of storms.

Without the beach, Torcross is getting battered by the sea, Mr Garner said

The sea has been smashing into the steel piles after the beach was stripped so the vibration of the waves has been rocking homes in Torcross 

‘You would be hard pressed to find a crisis more fitting to this funding’s aim of protecting homes and businesses from the devastating impact of flooding and coastal erosion.

‘It’s vital that the government understands the imperative need to invest now if homes along Start Bay are to be defended. I will be seeking clarification from the government and an assurance that this doesn’t mean all avenues of funding are closed.’

Kingsbridge – a town nearby, further inland – was awarded £101,000 for flood defences.

However, even this award was not satisfactory, with Ms Voaden saying she was ‘slightly surprised at the level’ of funding ‘as we know that it will cost many times that to resolve the problems with the culverts along the quay in Kingsbridge.’

It’s not just people who are at risk if coastal defences are not shored up at Torcross either, Mr Garner pointed out.

Slapton Ley is a freshwater body sitting directly behind the Slapton Line. If the Slapton Line is breached open, Mr Garner fears that the fresh water would run out at low tide and it would disrupt this rare natural habitat which is sat in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

‘It has its own kind of ecosystem there is quite unique, because there’s freshwater things in there. There’s perch, rudd, there are a lot of unusual plants that grow there,’ he said.

This rare ecosystem is another draw to the village as a nature tourist spot too.

An environment agency spokesperson said: ‘The projects and funding announced in the investment programme for 2026/27 are a result of funding bids for previously identified locations that were submitted back in 2025 before the storms earlier this year. 

‘We remain committed to building a business case to undertake works at Torcross, and if this is approved, we will seek to find the funds from within the wider 2026/27 national investment programme allocations to complete the work required before this coming winter.’