A house has been evacuated and a road closed in St Lawrence near Ventnor today (Saturday) following a landslide. It is understood that the area below Undercliff Drive saw large scale movement of earth at some point overnight. Island Echo understands that one set of homeowners on Old Park Road physically felt their house move and so today packed up their belongings – including white goods – and left the property. A large mound of earth can be seen pressed right up against the detached abode (pictured above), with cracks visible on the exterior. A sign has been erected on the gate of the property warning any passers by of the danger. It is unclear when the owners will be back. Island Roads has closed Old Park Road at its junction with Hunts Road due to several large, almost impassable, cracks appearing on the surface in the last 12 hours. Nearby, on Hunts Road, Scottish and Southern Electricity Network (SSEN) engineers are working to maintain the power supply in the area with it understood to have been compromised during the slip. 
A detached property on Hunts Road has seen its driveway sink, but luckily the owners were able to move their car in time. It is unknown as to whether they have been advised to leave their home. 
Locals in the area are on heightened alert of the possibility of another slip in the near future – perhaps similar in scale to the one that severed Undercliff Drive 10 years ago. On the closed section of Undercliff Drive, evidence of further movement along the footpath is clear. Barriers have been erected around the areas that have dropped. 
Island Echo understands that homeowners are trying to keep the situation under wraps. It comes following land movement at Gills Cliff Road and Zig Zag Road in nearby Ventnor, and the devastating landslide at Bonchurch back in December.
UNDERCLIFF ON THE MOVE AGAIN – CRACKS APPEAR AFTER HOMEOWNERS FEEL MOVEMENT OVERNIGHT
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Bloody hell, the whole of the Ventnor areas are on the move. There insurance will rocket, assuming they can get insurance when it’s due for renewal…
So truly sorry for the owners as a beautiful area of the Island and free of low life.
Let’s hope it can be resolved.
It can be if the council does the drainage work they should have done years ago.
The island is going down baby lol
im ok in cowes take a few 100 thousand years for my place to go..i chose wisely..
Just a little smug then
So long you’re getting your benefits huh, peasant.
I do hope they are able to make their home safe. What happens to those people who are forced to leave their homes like this, but don’t have the financial means to rent somewhere? Does the council have a plan in case dozens of homes move and need to be evacuated? Does the council house those that have nowhere else to go? I doubt any insurance company would offer any sort of cover for these people.
If they are insured, better let them know now, before their insurance is due for renewal…
Nothing to do with council ..its tuff luck alot of homes in ventnor and surrounding area don’t have insurance or soon not able to get so homes ..are worthless..
I understand that insurance is offered but usually at a high premium in potentially higher risk areas, UNTIL such happens, and then few insurers will take on such a costly risk.
So as several have slipped now any new insurance in this area will be very expensive and hard to impossible to find.
The value of property will likely drop massively as now such areas will only attract daring cash buyers as mortgages unlikely to be given as too much a gamble to risk for 25 years of risk in this area now.
I know that house and it seemed in a safe area, but just shows that the thin veneer of top soil means nothing to what is going on deep below.
Hope it can be saved as not long sold, and a beautiful location too.
If they live down there they are well off
Just because you live in a cave, moron.
Least my cave isn’t falling into the sea
Only a matter of time, the rats will let you know.
Where do you get that idea? I’m not and neither are many other residents/tenants
Yep agree council should have a plan, some of these properties have paid high council tax due to value of property, not for services , but to pay housing for non working and to clear up our town centres after a night of rubbish from town drunks etc. If you choose to live in a town you should be one to pay for street lights, cleaning and Policing etc.
Some are paying over £3,250 a year but have no children,no street lights or amenities .
So sad, sadly the answer to most of your questions will be no. The amount of rain that most of this country has had over the past number of years are affecting lots of properties around the country, not only the IOW. Insurances for these type of properties will be sky high or non existent. Tragic.
This is more proof the Island is falling apart, yet the Council still
allow builders to keep building on this fragile island
Some people never learn
One not 1 anywhere – numbers up to ten are always spelled out in a sentence.
We have been through this so many times. Island Echo use their own retarded writing style in order to wind up people who know better. They are rather thick.
Thick. Retarded. People who use these terms are invariably talking about themselves
My thought go out to all those involved. It must be heartbreaking to have to leave your house. NO NEED FOR STUPID COMMENTS FROM PEOPLE TRYING TO LOOK CLEVER.
Best comment on here by far, well said.
The final picture is not there at all – it is of the short pedestrianised section of Undercliff drive, where ground movement has also occured. This is where the road was cut during Island Roads attempt to ‘fix’ it permanently. It is some way to the west of the area in question.
Read the story – it states quite clearly where the photo was taken
its only a few hundred yards to the west
I bought a property in Ventnor many years ago, when I was very young. What I didn’t realise is that I had bought a property in a grade 5 subsidence area. When I tried to sell the property, the surveryor/estate agent, who had past the survey originally, told all my prospective buyers that it was an unsafe property. I’d spent a lot of time improving this property over a 5 year period. I was frightened I’d be unable to insure this property for subsidence and contacted my Building Society, who told me that I was under a group building insurance, managed by the building society, so was ok. I did sell the property to a buyer from London, who had a full structural survey done. It was a very stressful situation.
I blame the old man at Island Roads
No one blamed the council yet?
I blame the council for not instructing Island Roads to put gabions at the bottom of the sea. That would stop youths speeding in their submarines. They’ve caused all this disturbance which has undermined our beautiful blue slipper clay. Blanket 40 knot speed limit. Build a bridge!
So sad for the home owners ….worrying for the whole of Ventnor
I wonder how long it will be before Gurnard starts to slip into the sea ? Very sloped unstable land in that area !
I was told in school never buy a house between Shanklin and chale it is all moving