This from Ed Blake, Councillor for Ventnor and St Lawrence in response to the news that Leeson Road will reopen to traffic from 10am Wednesday 17th July for around eight weeks.
Update: These claims by Councillor Blake have been strongly refuted by leader of the council, Phil Jordan: Read what he has to say about it. Ed
It is now over seven months since the road closed due to the Police Emergency closure in reaction to a nearby landslip.
First of all, I’m sorry to all those that have suffered negatively from this situation.
Removed the road from control of Island Roads
After months of lobbying, I finally managed to convince the Council to remove the road from Island Roads’ control and insure it themselves in order to dictate the reopening.
Island Roads were working towards a reopening only once they had done more monitoring and test bores. I have said from the start a monitoring system, no matter how basic, can be installed immediately to alert to possible movements.
We have made it clear that there are suitable options available to monitor the road without causing significant costs to the taxpayer.
Greater risk on the remaining roads
The greater risk on the remaining roads into Ventnor far exceeded the risk of reopening the road.
This was shown most clearly a couple of weeks ago when a road accident on the Whitwell Road entirely shut Ventnor and St Lawrence off.
Cul-de-sac
It should also not be forgotten that Shanklin was in effect been turned into a cul-de-sac during the road closure and residents and businesses have suffered there too.
I just hope the road reopening now is enough to save businesses from more hardship or worse this winter.
Special thanks
Thank you to all those who put in effort to campaign for Leeson Road to reopen with special mentions to the Keep Ventnor Moving group, Councillor Rodney Downer, my fellow councillors and our new MP Joe Robertson.
OnTheWight has asked the council whether they have removed control of Leeson Road from Island Roads and will update when we hear back. Ed
