Since the middle of September, work has been taking place to reinstate vehicle access to the landlocked properties in Undercliff Drive – following the landslide in February 2014.
The work by Island Roads, originally scheduled to be completed in eight weeks, is now in its tenth week, with the original planning application being added to as the work is carried out (ten additional documents added to the planning application since it was approved in August).
Residents: “To me it’s being handled like a DIY job”
The owner of one property in the landlocked area has been providing OnTheWight with regular updates on the work taking place and frankly, it’s been eye opening.
If there had been just one or two mishaps, there’d be nothing to report. But this is different. We’re hearing week after week of work being carried out by contractors that has to be redone.
The property owner says he thinks the project, “is being handled like a DIY job”.
Alleged problems
Here’s a very brief list of some of the problems residents allege have happened. We’re putting these to Island Roads:
- Path posts placed and removed more than four times
- 20m of posts put on top of water main
- Water main had a post driven through it
- The eastern chicane too narrow and redone twice
- Posts too short (western end) so extra glued on top with filler around them
- Kerb stones, etc buried in SSSI area at the rear of Woodington
- New road built on mud
- Fence post by Woodlands – placed in plastic tube attached to wire cage of gabion so when soil compacted, the wires move and so the fence posts move too – gabions removed and replaced
- 60 tonnes of dry earth dumped at eastern end above the concrete bar
- When earth delivered it was put on the new road and damaged the road
- IR hadn’t engaged utility services early enough – water/electricity – workman tarmacked over road before cables buried
- At the eastern end the drain is higher than rest of road so water can’t drain off
The work so far
OnTheWight popped down to see the progress of the works at the beginning of the month and were initially impressed with how it was looking.
Revisiting last Friday, it was disappointing to see the project has taken another step backwards.
These series of photos below show work completed by 7 November 2016, 19 November 2016 and one going back to Feb 2014.
The Eastern end and turning head
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Footpath chicane and bollard installed and then moved
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The concrete bar was installed during works Oct 2013
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Fence posts installed into moving gabions
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A sad reminder
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The Western end of the landlocked area – where road was built, then moved, then extended, white lines painted on, then removed, painted on again
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Seeking response from Island Roads
It seems to be one thing after another for the residents of Undercliff Drive (and that includes the ones on the outside of the landlocked area too).
OnTheWight has written to Island Roads about the situation, but experience has taught not to wait for an answer before publishing.
The last media query we placed with them about Undercliff Drive took four weeks to get a response. Sadly the response they gave didn’t answer the question we’d posed.
Hopefully this time the response will be far quicker. It’s the very least the residents deserve.
