FEARS are growing that £3 million of funding to save a popular Westcountry beach from being washed away will come through too late.

Teignbridge District Council says Dawlish Warren, on Devon's south coast, has seen "dramatic losses" in the last year, with a single storm removing around 10 metres of dune frontage and reducing the beach level by more than a metre.

Erosion of the beach – a magnet for around 10,000 visitors a day at the height of the season – has long been a concern as coastal currents sweep the sand to the rival resort at Exmouth.

While the Environment Agency is carrying out emergency work at the beach, further funding to "recharge" the beach could be "quite a long way off".

Council leader Alan Connett questioned whether enough was being done to prevent the Warren from "over-topping".

He said: "I was shocked to see just how much sand has been lost from the Warren when I walked along the front.

"I am told that storms since the start of the year have resulted in the loss of more sand.

"The Warren has national and international designations for its wildlife and the way the sand is being eaten away must be a very real worry to the Environment Agency."

The agency has confirmed it is in the process of trying to get £2.9 million funding from the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) for a beach recharge scheme.

While the funding submission sits on the Environment Agency's "sanctioned" list waiting for approval, more work has to be done to assess the economic value of committing the public funding.

The bid has to be put before technical specialists on the agency's National Review Group before it can be approved.

The whole process could take two to three years.

In the meantime, the Environment Agency has committed £110,000 for emergency works to be carried out to protect the stability of the dunes and flood defences.

The money has bought block stone and hardwood timber to repair and protect the dunes and groyne structures.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said the emergency work would be completed by May this year.

He said: "Clearly we are taking the precautions needed at Dawlish Warren very seriously.

"The amount of money that is needed that Coun Connell refers to is nearly £3 million.

"That has to go through a strict process. That's quite a long way off."

Some blame the beach's precarious state on the closure of Exmouth docks in the 1980s, which ended dredging of the Exe.

Criticism has also been levelled at the Environment Agency for not promptly replacing the wooden groynes that line and protect the beach from the sea.

To the chagrin of the tourism industry, countryside quango Natural England has suggested the Warren, part of which is also a protected nature reserve, should be left to revert back to a "natural state".