The Isle of Wight council (IWC) have refused to say whether they have condemned any homes in the recent landslide in St Lawrence.
The area around Hunts Road and Old Park Road saw significant movement over the weekend, which has continued to shift as the week has gone on.
Several gardens are showing large tension cracks and videos posted to YouTube show significant damage to some homes. Repairs have been required to an underground power line, and Old Park Road has witnessed severe damage, making it no longer passable beyond the former Old Park Hotel (the one-way road to Binnel has been made two-way).
IWC remain tight-lipped
Isle of Wight council, who were keen to share information almost instantly when the massive landslide occurred in Bonchurch last December, have refused to confirm or deny whether any homes have been evacuated or condemned.
Instead they told News OnTheWight,
“At this time, private road closures and Rights of Way closures are in place. We do advise that drivers and walkers stay away from the affected area and respect closure signs and diversions.
“The land movement is on private roads and contained within private property. Residents have expressed that they do not wish their personal circumstances or photographs of their properties to be reported by media and out of respect to those wishes the council will not make further comment at this time.”
Deep sympathy with those affected
News OnTheWight has deep sympathy with those whose homes have been impacted, but this is a larger matter than just the houses currently in jeopardy.
Slips like this have the potential to impact houses and roads above and below this slip that are not on private roads, for this reason, we asked IWC to reconsider their reply of not commenting further.
To that, we received the following,
“Whilst we are not able to provide further comment at this time, this may change dependent on further assessments of the situation.”
Video evidence
As can be seen in the video shot by Allen Wood earlier this week (warning: includes swearing), the damage along Old Park Road is significant. This is relevant news considering the major landslides the area has seen over the past decades, including Undercliff Drive ten years ago last month.
Indeed Allen’s short video shows that the photos shared with News OnTheWight earlier in the week (thanks Simon) have been superseded, as the road has shifted more.
Heavy autumn rainfall
The intense levels of rain that the Island saw in the summer of 2023 was linked to the Bonchurch landslide in December, with it being explained that it takes several months for the water to make its way from the Arreton Valley down towards the south of the Island.
With that in mind, the landslide that we are seeing now is likely to be in response to the heavy rainfall in October and November, when places like Ryde experienced heavy flooding.
Article edit
1pm 19th Mar 2024 – warning about swearing on link to video added
