The 85km stretch of coast which runs from Flamborough Head in the north to Spurn Point in the south is retreating by up to 4 metres a year on average.
References to erosion can be found in sources dating from as far back as Roman times, almost 2,000 years ago.
But East Riding Council monitoring shows some areas are receding faster than others, with the worst affected parts of the coast losing up to 6m a year.
Rock armour and other defences will be concentrated around areas such as Bridlington which are popular with tourists or home to significant economic activity.
Denise Waterhouse, 55, moved to Skipsea from Bradford for her retirement three years ago.
Mrs Waterhouse said she was less concerned about erosion as she lives further inland but knew that in the decades to come it could be her home’s turn to go.
She said:
“I’ve heard the sea’s expected to reach here in the next 30 to 50 years.
“It might sound a bit selfish but I know it won’t reach here in my lifetime so it doesn’t really worry me, I can’t see the house going before me.
“But I imagine it will be a problem for the next generation.
“In the three years we’ve been here a few sections of the cliffs have gone.
“What happens is first you’ll see a crack, then it just gets bigger and bigger until it snaps off and falls in the sea.
“Once such a big part of the cliff fell off that it took a stretch of a public footpath with it.
“There was a memorial that someone made on the edge, for someone who must have fallen and died I think.
“The erosion’s taken that as well.
“The further down to the coast you go the more people worry, my next door neighbour used to live close to the cliffs but he had to move further inland.
“People here look at places like Bridlington which have defences they wonder why we don’t.”
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