WALTON’S crumbling cliffs and historic Naze tower have been saved.

The Save the Naze campaign group is celebrating after being pledged £500,000, bringing the fund total to more than the required £1.2million.

Essex County Council has agreed to give the grant towards the Crag Walk project, which will protect a 110m section of the cliff in front of the Grade II-listed 18th-century navigational tower, as part of its 2010/11 budget.

Gladys Firminger, who runs the Save the Naze charity shop, said: “It is absolutely brilliant. I am overjoyed.

“The Naze is such a lovely place and everybody who comes here to visit will be overjoyed.”

The Crag Walk scheme will include a rock revetment, to stabilise the eroding cliffs, a new walkway, and a public viewing platform. Work could begin as early as this winter.

Tendring Council donated £520,000 towards the project last month, after it received £1million from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, under the Coastal Pathfinder scheme.

The Naze Protection Society has also raised £230,000 in a campaign lasting more than 20 years.