The Isle of Wight Council is “failing” to plan the protection of the scenic, sea view highway Military Road, the Island’s former MP has said.
Laying into County Hall in a public announcement on his Facebook page, Bob Seely said it has “dithered” in the last few years as the panoramic thoroughfare’s collapse comes ever closer.
He said:
“This month a year ago councillors refused a planning application by Island Roads for a scheme to protect the highway from rapid erosion on the section between Brook and Hanover Point.
“There were reasons to oppose, although thus far it’s the only scheme put forward.
“The question now is – what has been done in the year since that refusal?
“Erosion brings the road ever closer to the precipice, there is no sign of urgency.
“It all smacks of a council bereft of any strategy to protect the Military Road and even in breach of its own planning permission. The Island deserves better.
“I am asking for rapid and unequivocal assurance that it has a plan for the Military Road and will plan to deliver that plan.”
In February this year, council leader Phil Jordan gave a public update on Military Road:
“As local residents will be aware, we are experiencing the real effects of geological erosion on the Military Road (the A3055).
“There are three specific sites – the cliff top along Compton Down (Afton Down), and two sites between Brook and Compton Farm.”
Cllr Jordan said erosion between Brook and Compton Farm – Sites 14 and 15 – was a result of “natural coastal erosion” and water from the downs and chines.
He mentioned a “potential alternative option” to Island Roads’s rejected plan to protect Site 14 was to reroute this part of the road inland, something he said would ensure the future of the highway for another 20 years or more.
Cllr Jordan said the council had held “positive discussions” with the National Trust, a landowner next to Military Road, and had contacted government departments for their opinion on the inland route option and the possibility of funding for it.
The cost of rerouting works was estimated to be more than £20 million.
The IW Council has been approached for further comment but declined to comment further at this stage.
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