A retired highway professional has criticised the Isle of Wight Council over its handling of the Horsebridge Hill roadworks, suggesting that the decision to allow the scheme to proceed with minimal notice may amount to negligence.
Kevin Burton, who served as Network Manager for Island Roads and worked in highways between 1989 and 2022, has written to Island Echo sharing his concerns following widespread disruption caused by the northbound closure of Horsebridge Hill. He highlighted a personal experience on Tuesday (3rd June), when it took him 25 minutes to travel a 2-mile stretch of Forest Road due to the diverted traffic.
He questions the claim that the diversion only adds around 15 minutes to journey times, arguing his experience suggests a far greater impact. He added that the concerns raised by residents and businesses are therefore understandable.
Mr Burton believes the Isle of Wight Council approved the works at short notice, despite reported advice from its own highways contractor advising a delay to allow for better planning and communication. He points to social media comments suggesting that the Council’s statutory Traffic Manager may have overruled this advice, and raises the question of whether the decision was taken at a higher political level.
Kevin has said:
“It appears to be the case that the Isle of Wight Council were responsible for the decision to allow these works to commence at such short notice.
“There is probably a good case to present that the Isle of Wight Council has been negligent in its duty of care to island residents and businesses.”
He further explains that although roadworks undertaken under a Section 278 agreement generally do not require compensation to businesses, this could change if negligence is proven. He describes negligence as a failure to take reasonable action when the impact of a decision is foreseeable – a test which, he suggests, may be met in this instance.
He advises affected business owners to consider writing to the Council to seek compensation and also investigate the possibility of applying for a business rates reduction while the roadworks are ongoing.
What’s the problem only 25 minutes.
On the mainland motorists pay a ULEZ
and Congestion charge totalling £27.50
a day and still get stuck in traffic on a daily
basis for much longer periods of time.
The island residents should think themselves lucky
they don’t have to pay such charges on a daily
basis.
These Roadworks are only for a short period of
time, just wait until they start building 704 homes a
year on the island.
Then you will have something to moan about.
At least it is stopping motorists from speeding.
I’ve lived on the mainland and you cannot compare traffic congestion over there to the isle of Wight.
It’s not just congestion it’s also limited routes to take due to other road closures.
Sometimes you mouth off before you put your brain in gear.
As for the isle of Wight council, they make decisions that they have no knowledge of and again make decisions before putting there brain in gear.
Nothing over here is well thought out , too many roadworks too close together which add more chaos.
Hopefully it will be done properly and swiftly so we can all get back to normal.
The island is a small place and the are far too
many vehicles on this small island of which the
majority of them are dirty diesels.
I was behind a van yesterday, it was blowing out
so much sh*t – wouldn’t be allowed to happen in
Khan’s London.
The island needs to clean up its act.
I am surprised IW Council are not doing anything
about the pollution on the island.
I retired to the island for the beautiful clean
air, how things have changed on the island over
the last 50 years.
Not for the better!
Jesus,when are you going to stop wingeing,all you do is moan
are you going to apologise about the incident at the needles where two people are now dead after going off the cliff?
you were straight in with your crass comments then werent you,by the amount of times you comment about speeding its shows you have nothing better to do!
you could always bugger off to the mainland the amount of times you mention it,if you havent got anything constructive to say,dont say it!
Totally agree with you this bloody clown ENOUGH has not got one decent idea, he talks straight out of his arse
If he want something constructive to do then go and build your wooden box and give everyone a rest from your ludicrous comments
Sounds rather like an attempt to trigger compensation and rebates. And who will pay for those – we will, the taxpayer.
Well, he’s got that right. I saw the traffic queued all the way back from Vittlefields crossroads to St. Mary’s. Completely unacceptable. The fools who make these decisions are clearly incompetent. Every Council should have a well qualified and experienced Chief Engineer to take responsibility. Free passage along the King’s Highway should always be the priority. Services can always be routed elsewhere than under a road.