0:00:25 > 0:00:28With a house on the brink of toppling off the cliffs,
0:00:28 > 0:00:31no insurance and no local authority planning to save it,
0:00:31 > 0:00:36retired engineer Peter Boggis decided to take matters into his own hands.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41Known to the press as a self-appointed King Canute,
0:00:41 > 0:00:44he spent two years constructing his own sea defence.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51And how much has disappeared into the sea?
0:00:51 > 0:00:53Immediately opposite of here,
0:00:53 > 0:00:57180 metres have gone into the sea since the end of the war.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00- 180 metres.- Yes. It is nearly half of the land.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04And the most that I have ever seen is 22 metres of land going
0:01:04 > 0:01:06in three consecutive nights.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09So it's used as a holiday house now
0:01:09 > 0:01:13because it would be a little hairy living there during the winter.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18If we hadn't started the work, it would have gone over the edge about four years ago.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20- So this is the frontline?- Yes.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Are you working below here?
0:01:26 > 0:01:27Further along.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29What's going on here?
0:01:29 > 0:01:33We have a truck coming in which will turn here.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36My God!
0:01:37 > 0:01:40- What an incredible sight!- Yes.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44- It's, um...- I can't believe it. I thought we'd see the beach.
0:01:44 > 0:01:45This is defending Britain.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50An astonishing sight. There's trucks and mud and...
0:01:50 > 0:01:54I'm absolutely stunned by the scale of this.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56I was expecting something far, far smaller.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04Peter's defences are far more extensive than homemade sandbags.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07He's organised up to 50 trucks a day
0:02:07 > 0:02:10to dump soil and clay at the base of the cliff.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15It's a mutually beneficial alliance with local contractors that helps them get rid of their waste.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18The bank has to be constantly topped up,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21as a third of it is washed away every year.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25Now, two years on, it's 500 metres long
0:02:25 > 0:02:30and the retreat has been halted...for the time being.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32But it's not good news for everybody.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34There's some admiration
0:02:34 > 0:02:36in terms of the fact that he's taken it upon himself
0:02:36 > 0:02:38to protect his property.
0:02:38 > 0:02:44I think one of the concerns that we would have, and I'm sure a number of other local authorities,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48is if this is a precedent others might try to do the same thing.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Southwold at the moment is suffering
0:02:51 > 0:02:54from the lowest beach levels in memory
0:02:54 > 0:02:58and that's our biggest problem with what Mr Boggis is doing.
0:02:58 > 0:03:04The cliffs that he is protecting - and it does sound callous -
0:03:04 > 0:03:08that is the source of beach replenishment material
0:03:08 > 0:03:10for the beaches to the south.
0:03:11 > 0:03:17From 1927 to 1947, the erosion rate here was almost zero.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22But as excessive sea defences were put in on adjacent areas,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25it caused a loss of the beaches
0:03:25 > 0:03:29and as beach levels progressively dropped so the rate of erosion increased.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34The council fears that Peter's earthworks prevent sand restocking the beaches.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38For Peter, the problems lie with the concrete sea walls in the town.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42But what actually happens with a concrete sea defence?
0:03:42 > 0:03:45It eats around the edges, the sea, rather than into it?
0:03:45 > 0:03:47Well, with concrete sea defences,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50very often the waves rebounds off them
0:03:50 > 0:03:53with sufficient velocity to scar the beaches away.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Oh, I see! So you lose the sand.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58Yes, you lose the sand's protection.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03It's difficult to pinpoint exactly where the problem lies.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06That dilemma echoes all down the east coast.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Defences seem to have a knock-on effect,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12shifting the force of erosion elsewhere.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Quite a number of people have said that I'm mad
0:04:15 > 0:04:17but I don't mind that at all.
0:04:17 > 0:04:23They'd be mad too if the sea was nibbling the bottom of the garden at the blessing of the council.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27This is our home and the homes of our neighbours.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29It is right to protect them.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk