Last weekend was the two year anniversary of the devastating landslide on Undercliff Drive that resulted in nine properties becoming landlocked and most families, some elderly, having to find ‘temporary’ homes at short notice.
As the residents have still not been able to return to their homes, OnTheWight spoke one, Gary Smedmore, whose caravan park has been unable to do any business through no fault of his own over the last two years.
He told OnTheWight,
“The Isle of Wight Council and Island Roads are still, in my view, as incompetent today as they were two years ago when the landslide occurred.
“Island Roads refuse to converse with residents or answer any questions. The IWC are very slow in responding when pushed on anything to do with the landslip.
“Even with the backing of MP Andrew Turner, they still take 86 days to respond to two A4 sheets of questions and even then, only three of the questions they be bothered to answer, and these were answered inadequately.”
Council tax and business rates fiasco
Gary went on to say,
“The council even went as far as threatening legal action against numerous residents for non payment of council tax (even though the properties were empty and there is obviously no road or no services of any kind).
“I entered into discussions with the council regarding this matter and they haven’t even had the decency to contact me or respond in the last three months.
“I was even being charged business rates until it came to light that I shouldn’t have paid any at all from 2010 to present (due to being below the small business threshold), of which they failed to inform me (I did get a full refund which was pure luck as the deadline is April 2016).”
A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight council told OnTheWight,
“The Isle of Wight Council and Island Roads have been working together to tackle a number of issues affecting the progress of works to restore access for residents at the Undercliff. We are pleased to report that progress has been made on a number of these issues and we will soon be able to start work on site. We expect to liaise with local residents later this week about the planned works.
“We are very grateful to residents for their ongoing patience and we will continue to keep them informed of any developments.”
OnTheWight has asked the IWC to clarify what they mean by ‘soon’. We’ll let you know more when we hear back.
The ongoing saga
There is a huge amount of background on the plight of the landlocked residents of Undercliff Drive. You can read over 100 articles published by OnTheWight on the subject, but below is a brief summary.
In February 2014 two landslides occurred at the exact points where Island Roads were undertaking roadworks, just a few months into their 25 year contract.
Despite the warning of ‘very high risks’ associated with the proposed works in October 2013, the work went ahead.
What followed was months (now years) of stress and uncertainty for the residents, many whose actual homes were not affected structurally by the landslide, but collapse of the road has meant they’ve been unable to access them.
One family we spoke to is having to move for the fourth time since evacuating their home two years ago.
People power
By October 2014, Islanders frustrated by the apparent lack of action, worked over one weekend to repatch part of the road to give residents the ability to drive directly up to their properties and receive deliveries of winter fuel.
It didn’t last long though and the road was swiftly ordered to be closed by the council, once again cutting the residents off from their homes.
More delays
Although a budget of £500,000 to fix part of the collapsed road was agreed by the council’s Executive in September 2014, it took a very long time before plans were released, June 2015.
The sudden need for a rare bat survey has meant that work won’t start until at least August 2016, some two and a half years since the February 2014 landslide.
Living in limbo
In September 2015, the Leader of the council said the delays are unacceptable. However, one resident who passed a series of questions to the leader in April 2015 is still awaiting answers (despite chasing).
Five months later and many of the homeowners are continuing to have to move around temporary accommodation, their personal belongings in storage and not knowing whether they’ll ever be able to return to their homes.
It’s a tragic and very sorry state of affairs.
Article edit
Statement from the IWC added post publication.
