The Isle of Wight Cabinet will be meeting again next Tuesday, doesn’t time fly.
On the agenda is a new proposal, which if approved, council officers hope will extend the life of the Military Road between Brook Bay and Hanover Point.
The paper states that a new option of redirecting underground water away from the road may, if successful, prolong the life of the road for several more years.
Experts offered advice
VB readers will remember hearing the suggestion made by Dr Bruce Denness back in June (listen to the podcast) following his presentation to members of the Isle of Wight Association of Local Councils.
It looks as though the council have listened to residents and experts during the consultation and are calling on members to approve the proposals for the short term fix.
The cost of the works is estimated to be in the region of £200,000 and would be taken from other planned projects, namely
- Middle Road between Swainston Manor and Pump Lane – patch and surface dress rather than resurface (£40,000)
- Whitcombe Road, Carisbrooke – patch and surface dress rather than resurface (£40,000)
- South Street, Newport – defer resurfacing until 2011/12 (£100,000)
- Horsebridge Hill, Newport – defer footway resurfacing until 2011/12 (£20,000)
Committed to listening to residents
Cllr Edward Giles, Isle of Wight Council Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: “I am pleased to be able to recommend an option to cabinet that may enable this stretch of road to be kept open for several years.
“There is no money set aside for this work and if the option is chosen, then funds will have to be found by stopping other schemes that had been planned for this year. This must be in our minds when we weigh up the cost of this work against the amount of time we could expect the project to extend the life of the road by.
“But the fact this is now on the table demonstrates our commitment to listening to the views of local people and following up on their ideas to find a solution. I am grateful to the local land owners who are working with us to allow us to take this solution forward.
“Earlier this year, I said we must make a decision with our heads and not our hearts. As an Islander myself, no one will be happier than me if we can arrive at a solution where an affordable engineering solution allows us to retain the life of one of the Island’s most iconic roads.”
Read the paper in full
