Clief-Top hotel

Cliff-Top Holbeck Hall hotel would not have fallen into the sea if Scarborough Borough Council had taken appropriate action to secure the cliff against slippage, the owners claimed in court this week.

The hotel tumbled into the sea four years ago owing to four landslips between 3 and 4 June. The loss cost the hotel's insurers £2.2m.

The council has brought a parallel case against Gloucester-based Geotechnical Engineering (Northern), which it had commissioned to check the cliff's stability after previous landslips.

Judge John Hicks at the Official Referees Court was told that council work on the cliff in 1989 had been "wholly inappropriate and ineffective", leaving it too steep and improperly drained.

The council - which blames land movements inside the hotel boundaries - was also accused of ignoring Geotechnical's 1984 recommendations for stress analysis.

The case is expected to continue for four weeks.