The Isle of Wight Council is hopeful that a notice – served on a local landowner – can help ‘speed up the process’ of reopening Belgrave Road.
It was on 8th March that a large section of rock gave way in dramatic style, as previously reported by Island Echo.
The collapse occurred on the same road that was closed in 2020 when cracks appeared in the road surface, before giving way weeks later. It took nearly 3 years to get the road reopened.
In the days following the March collapse, the council said they were unable to remove the rocks until they had spoken to the owner of the 3rd-party land from which the rock fell.
The Isle of Wight Council has confirmed that since the events of 8th March, they have made several unsuccessful attempts to contact the landowner and that they now intend to serve a legal notice on the landowner without the need to go through the court system.
Despite this news, many Islanders are left wondering why the rubble – which is on the road – cannot be removed and then the affected wall, known locally as Windy Corner, can be tidied up later.
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson has said:
‘‘The Isle of Wight Council has made every effort to contact the landowner using various methods of communication, including phone calls, emails and letters but has yet to receive a response back.
Article continues below this advertisement “The council has spoken to legal representatives and in accordance with the Highways Act the Isle of Wight Council can serve a notice on the property owner without going through the court system.
“The notice would inform the landowner of the intention to remove the debris and make the necessary repairs. The council would then act through the court if the landowner has not made contact to recover any appropriate costs. Hopefully this will now speed up the process of opening Belgrave Road.’’
It remains to be seen when Belgrave Road will reopen.
Sadly the island is falling apart at the seams.
What a load of hogwash, the rubble is in the ROAD. Just get rid of it. Chase the land owner later. Stop being penny pinching once again in Ventnor. Jordan get your finger out of your arse and bloody act on it.
The council issues parking tickets within minutes of the time out. The council don’t know the owner of the ticketed vehicle but don’t send multiple letters they just slap the ticket on and get the payment. Or then they send multiple letters to get the money
What’s the difference here?
Move it send multiple bills and get what your owed.
In a years time we will find out that the council hasn’t bothered to do any chasing as in a previous article.
Can you imagine what would happen if there was a rockfall on, say, the M3? Do you think the road would be closed for weeks on end?
Yet here we have a public road and our hopeless authority sit and hide behind legal process .
Shame on them all.