Charmouth Parish Council will get government money to buy Hensleigh House as a future home for the centre, which erosion is expected to claim by about 2055.

Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre is set to get a future home away from the eroding seafront. Dorset Council’s Cabinet agreed on 6 October to pass government coastal funding to Charmouth Parish Council so it can buy Hensleigh House in the village.

The centre would move there when its current building becomes unusable. The council’s report says the building is projected to be lost to coastal erosion by about 2055 if nothing is done.

The council says it would be one of the country’s first proactive coastal rollback schemes. Rollback means buying land or buildings inland before the sea forces a move.

What Cabinet decided

The printed decisions record that Cabinet approved:

  • transferring Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme money to Charmouth Parish Council to buy Hensleigh House, “or a suitable alternative”
  • Dorset Council acting as the facilitator for the purchase
  • delegating the legal and funding agreements to senior officers

The purchase is subject to “satisfactory valuation, survey, planning, legal and funding compliance outcomes”. The price is not public. It sits in an appendix kept confidential because it concerns the financial affairs of the parties.

The deadline that drives it

The money comes from the Environment Agency. The Cabinet report says it must be committed and spent by 31 March 2027.

The key dates:

Date What happens
14 October 2026 Deadline for councillors to call the decision in for scrutiny
15 October 2026 Decision can take effect if it is not called in
31 March 2027 Funding must be committed and spent
About 2055 Current centre projected to be lost to erosion without action

Why Charmouth

The report sets out the background:

  • in 2024 the Environment Agency gave Dorset Council £3 million to adapt to coastal change in Charmouth and North Swanage, through its Future Coast Dorset project
  • the shoreline plan for Charmouth has changed from “Hold the Line” to “No Active Intervention”, meaning the defences are not expected to be kept up in the long term
  • more than 120 homes and businesses, tourism sites and stretches of the South West Coast Path could be affected by coastal change over the next century

The report warns the centre could become “potentially uninsurable” well before 2055, “and as such unusable in the shorter term”.

Other sites were looked at, including empty land, other properties and public sector sites in the village. The report says they were unavailable, off the market or had legal or development problems. Hensleigh House was judged the most realistic option within the funding window.

The report does not give an address for the property. The village website, charmouth.org, lists a Hensleigh House as a family-run guest house about 300 metres’ level walk from the beach.

Who will own it

Charmouth Parish Council will own and run the building. The report says the parish council intends to move its own offices there to cut its overheads and make the building affordable to run.

The money comes with conditions. The parish council must sign a funding agreement and a legal covenant registered against the property. If the building stops being used for the centre’s purposes, it may have to be sold and some or all of the money returned.

The report admits other communities may see the deal as unfair. It answers that Charmouth was found to be particularly at risk, and that the purchase only replaces an asset erosion would otherwise take. It also notes that legal advice on subsidy control “remains under review”.

What was said

Cllr Jack Jeanes, Dorset Council’s Cabinet Member for Place Services, said before the meeting: “This project is entirely funded by government and has been provided specifically to help communities adapt to coastal change. It cannot be used for sea defences or coastal protection works and it’s ringfenced so we can’t spend it on other council priorities.”

What it means for you

  • The centre is not moving yet. It stays where it is for now. The new building is a future home, to be used when the seafront site can no longer be.
  • No council tax money is involved. The funding is a ringfenced government grant, according to the council.
  • It could still change. The purchase depends on a valuation, survey, planning and legal checks. If Hensleigh House falls through, the decision allows “a suitable alternative”.
  • If you live or run a business on Charmouth’s seafront, the report’s figure of more than 120 homes and businesses at risk over the next century is the wider picture this sits in.

The centre also receives a small yearly grant from the council’s culture fund. We covered that funding round.

Sources