Mansfield District Council needs to spend up to £600,000 on further stabilising works at an old quarry where a landslide occurred six years ago.
On 7 November 2019, the cliff face at Berry Hill collapsed, sending 1,300 tonnes of debris and mud cascading towards residential properties on two cul-de-sacs.
It led to 60 residents being evacuated from their homes.
Urgent repair work was completed within weeks so people could move back in, and after two more landslides in the next two years, permanent stabilisation works took place, starting in spring 2021 and finishing in autumn 2022.
But now, four and a half years on, geology experts Fairhurst have told the council that more remedial work needs to be completed in a “timely manner” to mitigate further risk.
At a meeting on Thursday, 4 December, council chief executive James Biddlestone awarded the works contract – the value of which has not been disclosed – to an anonymous contractor, one of two companies that bid for the chance to complete the work.
Documents state that the anticipated maximum cost of the contract is £600,000.
Berry Hill Quarry, on the south side of Mansfield town centre, was a sandstone quarry used for extraction in the second half of the 20th century.
After it closed, a new housing estate was built in its place. This was completed in 2011.
The streets are overlooked by the cliff faces of the quarry, which back directly onto the gardens of some of the new homes on Bank End Close and Stone Bank.
In the week commencing 4 November 2019, biblical levels of rain led to the slope collapsing, sending debris, including dislodged trees, into the gardens of properties across Bank End Close.
No one was injured at the time.
Immediately, 32 homes were evacuated, with 19 remaining empty for two weeks.
Mansfield District Council placed residents in temporary accommodation while they carried out emergency works to clear the material and put temporary protection in place.
Compensation was later provided to residents, and Fairhurst was contracted to complete regular surveys of the cliff face, which continued for two years.
After meetings and an independent investigation by a solicitor were published in July 2020, the council, which owns the land, said it was satisfied that the new estate had been built sensibly and according to planning conditions.
However, the solicitor also stated that ideally, no development should have been permitted on the site until “the stabilisation of the quarry face in both the long and short term had been secured.”
He added: “It is highly questionable as to whether the council should have adopted the cliff top.
“In the event that it did wish to proceed with the adoption of the cliff top, it should have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that it fully understood both the financial and legal implications of such an adoption by undertaking the required due diligence.”
Fairhurst’s safety surveys repeatedly reported “no increased risk”.
However, just nine days after an inspection yielded the same conclusion, in December 2020, another landslip occurred, and some homes had to be evacuated again – although this time, for two nights.
A month later, in January 2021, there was a third landslip, though no homes needed to be evacuated on that occasion.
The permanent works, when they began in March that year, cost £3 million and included the installation of mesh netting across the cliff face, secured by pegs, and a “catch fence barrier” at the bottom.
After this was completed, residents’ gardens and fences were finally reinstated along with pathways.
In 2023, the council allocated £1.349 million to its budget for the next financial year for what was described as the “final phase” of work, involving the installation of further “protective mesh” between the slope and nearby roads.
However, nearly three years later, it appears that more work remains to be done.
James Biddlestone, chief executive of Mansfield District Council, said: “These works are part of a planned programme of stabilisation within the quarry, following on from the emergency work that was completed in 2022. This next phase of work is programmed to start towards the end of January and last for around 16 weeks.
“The work required in this phase is not as complex as phase one and is not being done due to any increased risk but is part of a programme of stabilisation to better improve the protection and management of the cliff face for the long term.”
