Owners of houses on the edge of a crumbling cliff have been offered hope of saving their homes.

The Department for Rural Affairs (Defra) yesterday announced it would cover the full cost of any approved erosion scheme at Fairlight, near Hastings.

The announcement was greeted with joy in the village, where up to 200 clifftop homes have been threatened by weather-ravaged cliffs.

Some residents have seen 20ft of cliff tumble in the past decade and already five houses have been swept away since 1999.

Geotechnical engineers predict up to 195 of the village's 760 homes could succumb to the sea in 100 years unless defences are put up.

However, yesterday's announcement means a £3.3 million scheme looks likely to press ahead to stem the erosion and safeguard the homes.

It is hoped a protective wall will be built on the beach and a series of boreholes cut on the clifftop as well as a regrading of the slope.

In the past, such works have been partly funded by the Government and partly by the council.

But Rother District Council made clear earlier this year it could only approve a scheme if Defra paid 80 per cent and residents guaranteed the cost of a new feasibility study.

Yesterday, Defra told Hastings and Rye Labour MP Michael Foster it would pay the full cost of the erosion scheme and the residents would be repaid the £57,850 they raised themselves.

Mr Foster said: "The decision now for the Government to pay 100 per cent by capital grant means that, subject to approval, there will be nothing for the council to pay and the residents will be repaid the money they have stumped up.

"However, time is now of the essence. Each year in October the Government announce the scoring system for approvals which change according to the number of applications.

"If Rother Council is able to submit the scheme for approval within the next week or so it is almost certain to be approved. If they delay there is the risk that new rules will apply which would mean delaying the approval."

A Defra spokeswoman said: "From April next year we will be paying 100 per cent of capital grants as opposed to 80 per cent and the rest coming from local authority funding.

"In the case of Fairlight, an application has just been submitted to us from Rother Council and if it is approved it will get 100 per cent funding."

When told the news, Dr John Sinclair, chairman of the Fairlight Cove Preservation Trust, said: "I'm absolutely staggered. I cannot believe it. That is fantastic.

"The application for the erosion scheme has been submitted and the indications are that Defra will include the cost in their 2007-08 budget. Now we have to do all we can to survive the next two winters and prevent any more homes from going over the cliffs between now and then."

Efforts have been made to halt erosion in parts of the village.

In 1989 and 1990, 500 metres of coastline protection made of granite blocks was built, costing £3 million, before the area was made a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) by English Nature.

While the bund has proved successful, further along at Rockmead Road homes are under threat because no coastal protection exists. Now all that is set to change.

But for some it is too late. Former RAF engineer Nick Carter, 84, saw his £180,000 four-bedroom cottage on Rockmead Road swept into the sea five years ago.

Now he lives alone with his two pet dogs in a mobile home just 15 yards from the very cliff edge that took his home after failing to claim any insurance.

Asked about the announcement, he said: "It's damn good news but it has taken an awful long time."

The long-running campaign to safeguard the clifftop homes has drawn support from unlikely quarters, including singing divas The Supremes.

Current members of the legendary Mowtown act paid a surprise visit to Fairlight after learning the former president of the British Diana Ross and The Supremes fan club, Jim Saphin, lived there.