WORK to save a crumbling Walton landmark could start next year.

The Naze Protection Society is preparing to start a campaign to raise the £1.2million needed to safeguard the Naze tower from coastal erosion.

The Crag Walk scheme will also provide a new walkway and platform from which the fossil-rich red cliffs can be viewed.

The group has put together a plan, with work on the site starting in 2010.

David Gager, chairman of the Naze Protection Society, hailed the launch as a major step forward on the conservation works.

He said: “We are well on the way. We are very positive at the moment everything is going in the right direction.”

The society has appointed a project manager, and will shortly submit plans for the Crag Walk to Tendring Council.

Once planning permission had been granted, the group would be in a position to bid for big money from various funding organisations, said Mr Gager.

The group has already raised £250,000, most of which has come from local donations and sales from its charity shop in Walton. It is also expecting £100,00 from Essex County Council.

It still leaves a lot of money to find, but the group is confident it can raise the cash once it has the go-ahead for the work from Tendring Council. The society, Essex Wildlife Trust and Tendring Council, have put together a shortlist of 12 possible funding organisations they plan to approach.

Mr Gager thanked residents and local groups which had contributed the £250,000 raised so far.

He said: “It has been the general public, basically, it all came from our charity shop. We are doing it for the general public and it wants it happen.”