A battle to save a popular Norfolk beach has been launched, as holiday park bosses pin blame for worsening erosion on Great Yarmouth's outer harbour.

Eastern Daily Press: Hopton beach June 1996Hopton beach June 1996 (Image: Archant)

Hopton's three-mile stretch of beautiful golden sand is slowly disappearing, and access from cliff-top Hopton Holiday Village has crumbled to the tides.

And park operators Bourne Leisure claim damage is a direct result of the outer harbour, whose construction from 2008 has allegedly altered tidal flow along the east coast.

The claims were made at a press conference at the holiday park today.

Eliza O'Toole, vice chairman of Great Yarmouth Port Company, operating as Eastport UK, has strenuously denied that this is the case.

Legal wrangles have begun, with Bourne's team pursuing a £7m sea defence scheme to stop sand shifting north to Gorleston beach.

This would comprise three 120m headlands at Hopton, made of rock imported from Norway and designed to keep sand in Hopton.

Eastport UK is faced with the prospect of picking up the bill under an Act of Parliament - the Outer Harbour Revision Order 2005.

But Bourne's findings are currently unverified.

For more on this story, see tomorrow's Eastern Daily Press.