If you listened to BBC Radio Solent’s breakfast show this morning, you would have heard landlocked Undercliff Drive business owner, Gary Smedmore, speaking with Julian Clegg.
Julian was sharing with listeners the latest news from the Undercliff Drive saga (recap here).
Offer to rebuild the day it went
During the discussion Julian asked Gary how he felt the situation could have been sped up.
Gary replied,
“The whole thing could have been resolved immediately because the construction company [John Peck] and Island Roads offered to put this temporary road in on the day it went.
“They had a meeting with the council – and I’ve had confirmation from council members that the meeting did take place – but the council refused to put the road back, stating that by July the ground would have dried out and then they would put it in.”
This didn’t happen, in fact nothing had been built to assist residents to get to their houses, leading to the volunteers re-building the road recently.
Temporary road for £50,000
Gary went on to say,
“We’ve also had it confirmed from the Geo-technical project manager [Kieron Blamey] at Island Roads, that they did make the offer.”
Mr Blamey confirmed last week that Island Roads had offered to build a temporary road, at the Niton end, for residents in the nine landlocked properties following the landslip in February for a cost of £50,000.
It’s unclear why this offer was not followed up, given that it could’ve taken place over the dry summer months and allowed all the residents to return to their properties.
OnTheWight will be asking the council what happened.
Summary of events
A quick recap:
- landslip in two sections of Undercliff Drive in February 2014 where Island Roads were carrying out geotechnical work;
- nine properties landlocked for eight months;
- no practical action by the Isle of Wight council (IWC) to help the residents;
- volunteers rebuilt a small section of the road;
- Island Roads closed the road on the instruction of IWC;
- emergency meeting with council big guns to find a way forward;
- no immediate way forward found;
- road still closed to residents’ cars or any deliveries.
