Undercliff Drive landslip: Council leader rules out rebuilding road

Undercliff Drive has been closed to through traffic since February 2014

Reinstating a collapsed road would be "a folly", a council leader has said.

Part of Undercliff Drive near Ventnor on the Isle of Wight has been closed for 10 years after a landslip left the ground unstable.

In 2021, the Department for Transport awarded Isle of Wight Council £2.1m to rebuild the road but the council said it was not enough.

A new landslip on nearby roads has led leader Phil Jordan to say reinstating the route was not worth the risk.

The A3055 Undercliff Drive previously linked Ventor and Niton but it has been closed since February 2014.

Eight houses were evacuated and two remained cut off until a temporary access route was created in 2016.

Homes in Hunts Road and Old Park Road in St Lawrence were affected by the most recent landslip earlier this month.

Two sections of the A3055 Undercliff Drive suffered landslips in February 2014

The movement left cracks in both roads, which sit beneath Undercliff Drive, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Mr Jordan said: "We have more distressing news of lost properties and lost roads in and around, not strangely, the Undercliff area.

"There has been some clamour for some time in rebuilding the Undercliff Drive at considerable millions of pounds."

Mr Jordan said the new landslip had been "within 50 metres" of Undercliff Drive, adding: "I do hope those who are asking for that spend of public money - even if we had it - it is an absolute folly.

"It would be a risk too far for this council, this administration, and for public money..."

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