Knipe Point

Knipe Point (or Osgodby Point) is a rocky headland on the North Sea coast, between Cornelian Bay and Cayton Bay in North Yorkshire, England. From this point, and running south, is the steeply sloping clay-till cliff on top of which stood the NALGO holiday camp between 1933 and 1974; this is where Knipe Point Drive was later built. The Cayton Cliff is subject to continuing surface landslips, potentially major at times, such as the one of 2008, known as the Knipe Point Landslide, which received national media attention due to the loss of three homes.

History
Originally the first Trade Union holiday camp in the North of England, owned by NALGO it opened its doors in 1933. It had 124 wooden bungalows, accommodating 252 visitors. A dining hall with waiter service, a rest room along with recreation rooms for playing cards, billiards, a theatre for indoor shows and dancing was also provided. The new centre also provided Tennis courts, Bowling greens along with a children's play area. The visitors could walk to the beach where there was a sun terrace and beach house which also had a small shop. Click here to see photos of the NALGO camp from the 1930s.

One of the earliest visitors were the family of poet Philip Larkin and during the Second World War it became a home for evacuated children from Middlesbrough. To see a black and white film of the NALGO holiday camp at Knipe Point please see the site of the Yorkshire Film Archive here. The NALGO camp closed in 1974 and was later sold.

The history of the holiday camp can be found in Colin Ward and Dennis Hardy's book "Goodnight Campers!" Spon Press (1986) ISBN 0-7201-1835-2, 0720118360. To preview the book click here

The site became permanent residential homes in 1985 when a planning restriction limiting the site to holiday homes was overruled following an appeal by the owner of the site.

Current owners
A private housing estate consisting of bungalows with views onto the Cayton Bay Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) to view photos of the SSSI click here.

The community is self-regulated by the Knipe Point Owners' Association which negotiated the purchase of the freehold of the land in 2002. This is held by another residents' company, Knipe Point Freeholders Limited, which maintains equality through each member having 500 shares. The members lease their homes to themselves for a nominal ground rent of £1. About half are permanent residents.

Knipe Point landslide
Three homes were demolished in 2008 after an ancient landslide was re-activated due to a prolonged season of heavy rain. To see photos of the demolition click here.

The landslipping behaviour was investigated through a ground investigation and a geomorphological assessment, which identified groundwater movements through the coastal slope as the critical control on triggering of events. There is a great deal of speculation, including suggestions that the site has been affected by the building of a new bypass or that the construction of extensions to the bungalows triggered the failure.

On 15 December 2009 Defra announced that it was awarding Pathfinder Status to Scarborough Borough Council to enable it to add to its programme of work a means of exploring new approaches to planning for, and managing, adaptation to coastal change in partnership with the Knipe Point Drive community. This will run until spring 2011. Landslide report

Knipe Point in the Media

 * Landslip homes torn down as bulldozers move in to Cayton Bay - April 2008 Yorkshire Post
 * Landslide leaves homes on the edge of a cliff - April 2008 Telegraph
 * Homes teeter on seaside land slip - April 2008 BBC
 * Homes on edge - April 2008 Scarborough Evening News
 * Landslip: homes should never have been built - April 2008 Scarborough Evening News