Island Roads is seeking permission from the Isle of Wight Council to help temporarily save a 26-metre section of the Military Road at Brook – some 2 years after plans were originally touted.
The scheme aims to reinforce and protect a precarious section of the Military Road between Brook Chine Car Park and Compton Beach Car Park that has moved very close to the cliff edge as a result of erosion.
It was back in August 2021 that the scheme was first revealed, with hopes that the work would be completed in an 8-week period by the end of the year. However, 2 years of erosion later and work is yet to begin – but plans are now open for public consultation.
It’s proposed that Island Roads will install piles under the south side of the carriageway to isolate the road from ongoing coastal erosion. The piles would be buried so would not initially be seen from either ground level or from the beach and sea below.
As part of this, the coastal path, which is currently located to the south of the road, could be relocated further inland to the north side.
To stop cars from getting close to the edge of the cliff, a barrier made to match local fences/barriers in the area could be erected. If a curb is needed then it is to be made from granite as opposed to concrete – a very expensive switch.
Back in November 2021, in a letter sent supporting the application, Councillor Phil Jordan stated that the scheme to invest significant sums in the area in the past would be deemed wasted were the road to fail completely this time around. He also said that the works, whilst welcomed, were only yet another temporary measure.
In response to the application, the National Trust – probably the biggest obstacle in the way of the plans – has said that the harm to the area is of such a high level that the public benefits of protecting the road don’t outweigh it, calling on the Isle of Wight Council to refuse it altogether.
The area in question was under 2-way temporary traffic lights for a period of around 4 years between 2010 and 2014. Following a cliff fall in 2010, Military Road was restricted to single file traffic. Then, in 2011, a new surface water drainage system was installed which slowed the recession of the cliff. At the same time, an embankment was constructed on the former vehicle lay-by to prevent vehicles from parking too close to the edge.
Anyone who would like to comment on the application can do so at www.iwight.com/planning – reference 20/01281/FUL. Comments should be made by 6th January 2023.
Last month Island Echo reported on concerns that Military Road could be lost forever. Read more on this at https://www.islandecho.co.uk/we-are-in-danger-of-military-road-being-closed-for-good-fears-local-resident-as-drone-photos-reveal-erosion/.
Get on and do it, the council is very good at running down the clock. We the island need this.
As for the national trust’s position, quite simply, save it or lose it. Get your heads out of your rear end.
Instead of using expensive granite kerbs, low densely packed Gabion cages could be used to prevent any cars from veering off the highway.
Gabion cages can be built to any width and height, and can be filled to give the weight, colour and to blend in with the flora and fauna in a particular location.
If the road crumbles more, they can be easily moved, or adapted.
Granite kerbs are pointless as it is clear that even solid Titanium would have no advantage if the cliff itself drops into the sea, so Gabion cages are the best choice here, so won’t be used by this council.
GABION CAGES…..again ! I presume you are on some type of commission ?
Sadly the council would need a brain for that Ivy… They never do what is right, or what is best for the people.. many live on the mainland and don’t give a thought to living people.. just Victorian people like themselves…
The only coarse of action here is to move the road inland or lose it dumdass
A compulsory land purchase order from the NT by the Council should have already been addressed years ago, as clearly this is not unexpected.
Then with modern machinery, unlike when the roads and railways were built with pick and shovel and horses, it would be easy to remove soft chalk, tip it over the cliff, so no haulage issues in getting rid of waste material, OR sell the chalk for other projects. .
Then the road could be moved further inland to give decades more use of this beautiful road.
I bet IF developers wanted it for housing, such simple obstacles would be addressed in record time if the Council were to be well thanked for it.
When you see the engineering feats in other places, moving soft chalk is easy.
Quite agree, the National Trust do a good job generally but there are occasions when they just need to be told what’s going to be done, end of.
Seriously The National Trust need to get their heads out of their ars*s – this is a much needed (and very behind schedule) works as this road is important to the south Island community. Who the hell do they think they are. Just get on with it without any further delay.
We are going to have to get serious in the UK about flood defence & tackling coastal erosion- not just very small temporary measures that everyone argues about doing for years! Otherwise we are going to have to move our roads & houses inland to higher ground. In other countries whole villages have been moved
Ahh, the National Trust. I expect that’ll be the same National Trust that has knowingly allowed a homeowner to set up camp on its land after they cleared away the shrubbery for themselves. Not sure I’d entrust anything to them let alone decisions affecting crucial island infrastructure, do they have an alternative proposition?
This should have been done years ago… the council do not want to pay to repair anything on this Island. they just want to get companies to build more houses, everywhere.. No thought or care of what the actual people want. Council want tourism.. REALLY ??? Then why are they turning all the hotels into flats.. ? Leaving derelict hotels and buildings for years and years, what a beautiful sight for tourists… housing estates and ruined buildings.. then they moan that they want towns to look Victorian… ? How much does a Victorian style street light cost these days.. ?? A lot more than the original Victorian ones, and they do not last very long either.. We are not Victorian Anymore !! But the council seems to be !!!
Get the boys who have repaired the belgrave road in ventnor
Top class work from them and they turn up and actually work every day
Coastal erosion is relentless, inevitable and essentially unstoppable.
Instead of wasting time and money on schemes that are always going to be a temporary fix we need to accept that we cannot defy the mighty forces of nature and close the section between Brook and Freshwater. Dig up the road and return it to nature, it would make a beautiful reserve, spared the relentless intrusion of motor vehicles.
Just becasue Mr Rowe, you can spend your time here mincing about on a Cycle, to you closing roads for those less able bodies, rich enough to have the free time to amble along country lanes, brewing a cuppa in a beauty spot without traffic, the REST of society can’t afford the time or that luxury.
I know you have done work for the Council, maybe that is why you support them, but likely my former paragraph explains more about selfish reasons to allow the road to become another ‘Undercliffe’ cyclists dream route.
LIFE has to gone on for working people, can’t all be artists
Simple answer, put some rocks on the beach. Too clever for Island Roads perhaps.
And the sea will erode the shoreline causing a land fall which will cover the rocks,
you’re not familliar with that section of the coast are you?
Love dumb comments, the cause of the erosion is land slippage how will rocks stop that take, a look at the Totland slip and you may then understand how this erosion is caused
What harm to the area? The sea is doing far more harm to the area than this. Perghaps the National Trust is happy for the sea to destroy this area, it saves them the responsibility of looking after it.
Why not fix the roads they been overpaid to fix first
Why not just let nature take its course. We still have the middle road, so why go to the expense for a minority. Money needed elsewhere.
island roads doing the job. God help us
Should have been worked on years ago. Too late now to remedy the situation and we have Winter to further batter the coastline. I fear this will become another Undercliff Road scenario, eventually closed off and traffic diverted further clogging up the ancient road system, rather than trying to modernise it.
The national trust need you use the brains it a area of nature beauty which people should see and need protection who funds them anyway us so get on with it