Dinah's Hollow: 'Lives at risk' on road affected by landslips

A landslip in 2016 displaced concrete barriers put in to stabilise the slopes

Lives are at risk because of potential landslips on a main route through Dorset, engineers have concluded.

Dorset Council is proposing a £4.3m project to stabilise the steep banks either side of Dinah's Hollow, at Melbury Abbas, near Shaftesbury.

The road was closed for stabilisation works from April 2014 until July 2015 and blocked for a month in 2016 following a large landslip.

Councillor Ray Bryan said plans were now under way to make the road safe.

The authority said geotechnical engineers assessed the C13, which is a key route used by HGVs, and found it to be at risk of landslips "with the potential to cause death to more than one person".

They said the landslips would also mean the "closure of one of the main north-south routes through Dorset".

Mr Bryan, who is the portfolio holder for highways, travel and environment, said: "Dorset Council has a duty under the Highways Act to maintain safe passage as far as is reasonably practical.

"The proposed work at Dinah's Hollow is prompted by the safety concerns that were raised regarding bank instability and the risk of injury, possibly death, it poses to users of the highway."

As part of the plans some trees will be removed and others replaced, but those along the crest of the slopes will remain.

Mr Bryan said council members had "difficult decisions" to make "balancing conflicting demands of social health and well-being, the climate emergency, highway safety and ensuring a sustainable business economy".

"Whatever the outcome the decision will not be taken lightly and will be made in the best interests of Dorset as a whole," he added.

The funding will be discussed by the cabinet on 6 April as part of its Capital Programme 2021/22 report.