OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below.
This from Maggie Nelmes, Ventnor. Ed
Another collapse of a natural rock wall in Ventnor – another huge risk to human life, which could have been prevented.
Like the rock wall at the traffic lights on Lower Gills Cliff Road, this rocky outcrop, overhanging a well-used road, should have been monitored closely.
Instead, the water barrier, placed around its base some years ago, only served to give road-users a false sense of security, proving useless in protecting motorists and pedestrians from the cliff’s collapse.
Aware of the liability
This does, however, demonstrate that Island Roads was well aware of this outcrop’s liability to rock falls. Not surprising, as it consists mainly of crumbling sandrock, typically found in the Undercliff.
So why didn’t Island Roads enclose it in a steel cage, as they did the cliff in Lower Gills Cliff Road, eventually, after a rockfall knocked out the traffic lights and closed the road for six months? Why take the risk of loss of life?
Could have led to a conviction for gross negligence
It was fortunate that this huge rockfall occurred late in the evening, though it was a Friday evening at pub closure time, and not in daytime, when this road is a popular route for walkers from the town centre to the public park.
Any serious injury or death would not only have caused a public outcry, but may also have led to a conviction for gross negligence.
Guidelines responsibilities in monitoring and maintaining historic terraces
It’s high time that local authorities and Ventnor property-owners were issued with guidelines on our responsibilities in monitoring and maintaining our historic terraces, faced, as we are, with more frequent and persistent heavy rainfall caused by global heating.
There was a leaflet, published some twenty years ago, advising householders of the particular risks faced by residents of the Undercliff and how to mitigate them. Perhaps this needs to be updated and delivered to every household?
Maybe there should be public meetings to raise awareness of the issues, with media coverage to reinforce the message and reach those who cannot attend in person?
Responsibilities lie with every householder
Responsibilities lie with every householder – from not allowing septic tanks to overflow in the St Lawrence area, not served by the public sewerage system, to not letting trees take root in rock walls.
I believe the Lower Gills Cliff Road cliff collapse was probably caused by holm oaks growing to maturity on the top and thrusting their roots down through the sandstone to the ground to gain anchorage. Tree roots allow rainwater to drain through the soil, and in this case very soft rock, breaking it apart. This must have taken decades, but the local authority was clearly not monitoring the cliffs and the trees that by chance seeded there.
If this had happened in someone’s back yard, they would have been responsible for the neglect that led to collapse.
Bath Road legal wrangle
A case in point is the collapse of a householder’s retaining wall, blocking Bath Road in Ventnor, the road leading down from the Royal Hotel to the Falaise car park and the Esplanade.
This road has been closed for many months because of the landowner’s alleged refusal to take action to secure their property on this very steep cliffside.
The price of negligence
Not only Island Roads, but all Undercliff residents have responsibilities to everyone else in our communities to keep us, our homes, our public buildings, our businesses and our roads safe from avoidable landslides.
Negligence not only risks lives, but also long-term disruption and hikes in insurance premiums from those companies still willing to insure anyone with an Island postcode, let alone an Undercliff one.
Isle of Wight council, Island Roads, it’s time to have that public information and discussion now.
