A COASTAL footpath is facing years of future landslips in the wake of last November's floods.

The North York Moors National Park Authority said diversions along the 110-mile Cleveland Way would have to remain in place, even when the foot-and-mouth crisis was contained.

The authority's trails officer, Malcolm Hodgson, said the conditions had caused 23 landslips, with the worst at Runswick Bay, Whitby, Abbey Plains and Lebberston and Gristhorpe.

Mr Hodgson said: "The extreme rainfall led to many hundreds of slips along the coast. The ground saturation caused rapid movement of water and material which field drains and becks could not cope with. In places such as Sandsend, culverts became blocked with material such as dead elm, forcing the watercourse on to the path itself, with the result being serious scour of the path base material."

He added: "The results of climate changes appear to be rising sea levels and more extreme weather patterns, both of which will increase coastal erosion rates. Temporary diversions of the route are therefore increasingly likely."