Parton landslide: Families not allowed home for weekend

The landslip on the hill is directly behind the local school and some houses

Families evacuated because of a landslide have been told to plan to be out of their homes for several days.

Cracks began to appear in the hill behind houses on Main Street in Parton, west Cumbria, on Wednesday.

Many families have spent their second night in temporary accommodation while more permanent plans are arranged.

Cumbria County Council, which has closed a main route through the village for up to 18 months, has been carrying out site surveys to assess the problem.

Highways chiefs say thousands of tonnes of soil could have to be moved

A council spokesman said: "To allow these surveys to happen, vegetation must be cleared and we are now planning how this can happen as quickly as possible and safely."

Council workers have put up fencing to "stop access and ensure public safety" and the authority said it was working as quickly as it could.

"Regrettably, given the complexity of the work required, those households which have been evacuated should plan on being out of their homes over this weekend at least," it said.

"Households have been allowed controlled access back to properties to collect essential personal belongings, documentation, medication and pets late yesterday evening and this morning."

The closure of Main Street has been extended from six to 18 months

Cumbria Highways senior manager Karl Melville said: "It's too early to say as to how much of the embankment could potentially come down, we're talking thousands of tonnes rather than hundreds of tonnes.

"It's a very complex piece of work that we're doing in resolving the issue, but also ascertaining land ownership."

There are suggestions heavy downpours could have caused the movement in the hill

The steep hill where the cracks appeared is directly behind a row of homes, a play park and the village school, St Bridget's, which is attended by 99 children.

Other people living not as close to the hill and who have been able to stay in their homes are planning to meet those who have been evacuated to see how they can "move forward as a village".

Andrew Barton, whose back garden is about 20ft (6m) from where the cracks have opened up, said there were people who had lived in Parton for 70 years and they had "never known anything like it".

He said that as far as he knows, there were not any mines in the immediate area.

Andrew Barton said repairing the cracks would take a long time

Mr Barton said: "It's just upheaval really, the main thing is that everyone is safe and no one has been hurt.

"It's just you've got to imagine the thought of your home being taken away for six months and we're faced with that.

Mr Barton said the thought of work taking that amount of time was "daunting" but added the help from friends and family had been "heartening".