The Undercliff Drive saga has dragged on for nearly three years for the owners of the nine landlocked properties, as well as those in the surrounding area (see background).
Although originally due to be finished by November, the good news is that almost all of the works being carried out are now complete.
The access road for the landlocked residents from the west, as well as pedestrian/cycle access and bridleway from the east, are complete with just the removal of the former road, provision of bat boxes and tree/shrub planting to take place early this year.
Latest work outside PFI
The latest works carried out are through a contract outside of the 25 year Highways PFI scheme.
It’s being funded from a budget of up to £500,000 approved by the Isle of Wight council executive in September 2014.
How much have Island Roads been paid?
Many have been keen to understand not only how much the current works are costing the council (given the number of delays), but also how much Island Roads were paid for the unfinished works that started in November 2013 (those works inside the PFI scheme).
OnTheWight posed a series of questions to the council. The answers arriving four weeks later.
1) How much was budgeted from the PFI contract for work by Island Roads to Red Zone 9 and Red Zone 10 [these are the two areas either side of the landlocked properties] at Undercliff Drive for work started in October 2013?
IWC: This is deemed commercially sensitive under schedule 28 of the Highways PFI Contract.
2) How much was paid to Island Roads for the work carried out to Red Zone 9 and Red Zone 10 at Undercliff Drive between October 2013 and February 2014?
IWC: This is deemed commercially sensitive under schedule 28 of the Highways PFI Contract.
3) How much has been paid to Island Roads since February 2014 to relating to Red Zone 9 and Red Zone 10 at Undercliff Drive (not including the new works)?
IWC: This is deemed commercially sensitive under schedule 28 of the Highways PFI Contract.
You can probably start to see the pattern here.
4) How much have Island Roads estimated the new works to reinstate the access road from the West and reinstate the footpath from the East will be?
IWC: This is deemed commercially sensitive under schedule 28 of the Highways PFI Contract.
5) How much has already been paid to island Roads for that work?
IWC: This is deemed commercially sensitive under schedule 28 of the Highways PFI Contract.
6) Will Island Roads be penalised for delays to the completion of that work?
IWC: The completion of the scheme at Undercliff Drive makes up part of the Milestone Completion Criteria for Milestone 7 (01 October 2016). As the scheme was not completed at Milestone 7, the uplift in the monthly Unitary Charge payment due on 01 October 2016 was withheld and the uplift was not paid until the Independent Certifier provided a Certificate of Completion in early December.
7) If so how much?
IWC: The calculation of Milestone Uplifts is deemed commercially sensitive under schedule 28 of the Highways PFI Contract. All amounts paid to Island Roads are available on IWC’s transparency pages.
A quick look at the “transparency pages” reveals that Island Roads were paid £1,892,884 in October 2016, but of course the payments are for the entire PFI project and not broken down into particular projects.
This is public money that is going to a private company.
Some might argue it is deeply wrong that the public cannot know how much Island Roads are being paid for specific projects.
Background
The landslip that took place in February 2014 (with the first signs being reported to Island Roads in December 2013), resulted in nine properties becoming landlocked.
Island Roads, through their sub-contractor, John Peck, were in the midst of a huge engineering project intended to mitigate against further potential landslides along Undercliff Drive in St Lawrence.
Living in limbo
Most of the homes were evacuated and at least one was condemned due to structural damage from the landslip.
Since then, the residents have been living in limbo; jumping around rented accommodation for nearly three years; paying for storage for the items packed up and moved out of their homes by the Army on the advice of the council; and for the caravan park a family’s livelihood destroyed.
Residents enlightened OnTheWight to the fact that a property sitting empty for nearly three years is not one you can just move straight back into. Maintenance and renovation works will need to be carried out in some of the properties before residents can move back in.
We hope they’ll be able to soon get their lives back to normal.
OnTheWight have published over 120 articles on the Undercliff Drive saga. Flick back through the archive to read the background.
