Cliff Steps has been closed by Officials reasons

A flight of seaside cliff steps has been closed by officials for safety reasons just days after they were opened in a bid to help tourists.Now the caravan park behind the £50,000 stairway near Sheringham faces paying out another £8,000 to put the matter right.The steps at Beeston Regis caravan park were completed in late June after 270 static caravan owners on the North Norfolk coast site contributed £100 each towards the project, with the park owners making up the £23,000 difference.

A previous set closed three years ago after they were make unusable by coastal erosion - leaving tourists with no way of getting between the site and beach below without 20 minute walking detour.Campers and locals had been using the steps for several weeks before their official opening, which would have happened at the park's annual barbeque for residents on July 4.
But the day before the event officials from North Norfolk District Council served notices saying the steps were unsafe.

Park manager Nicola Dimoglou said they had been told the steps were too steep, a problem that would cost £8,000 to fix.The old steps were much steeper and much longer, and I've still got the health and safety assessment from 2005 where the council passed them.There are very steep steps at Beeston Bump nearby, and those are fine. It should be one rule for everyone. We feel as though we're being victimised.

Council environmental health manager Chris Cawley said the council received a complaint about the safety of the steps just over a week ago.Officers visited the site in response and saw people having difficulty on the steps, including parents with young children.The council is concerned about one rise of steps in particular, where 27 steps rise very steeply with very narrow treads making it difficult for older and younger users in particular

A council spokesman added that while they were trying to support and encourage tourism, keeping people safe while they were on holiday was more important.Chartered surveyor Thomas Meyer has been speaking to the council as a resident of the caravan park, and now says he will take his complaint to the local government ombudsman.

I think it's madness. At the moment the county is trying to encourage tourism, the caravan park has done something to give it a bit of a boost, and then they do this.I don't think it's about being killjoys, it's just completely impractical. They have shut the steps down and they're using health and safety at work legislation to justify it. I understand that employees need to be protected but I'm a resident, I've done my own risk assessment and I'm happy using them.

Mike Knowles, a parish councillor who has lived in Beeston Regis for 45 years, said,The steps were better than anything they'd had there before, and they had people using them including an 81 year-old lady. I think the council is acting in a very imperious fashion and spoiling people's fun.