A dangerous cliff failure on the side of a busy road in Nottinghamshire could finally be fixed – four years after the problem first emerged.
Part of a nearby cliff collapsed onto Rock Hill in Mansfield just after 9 am on November 21, 2019.
No one was injured, but it needed temporary work to prevent further risk of collapse.
The incident came just weeks after a separate major quarry landslide forced residents to evacuate their homes in part of Berry Hill.
The district authority and Nottinghamshire County Council worked together to find a solution to the Rock Hill incident.
Temporary barriers were placed across half of the left-hand lane on the road heading out of the town, which has now been in place for more than three years.
Plans and conversations have been ongoing ever since about a more long-term solution.
Now a major development is in the works after Mansfield District Council approved a decision to find a civil engineer for the project.
The £30,000 procurement will find an engineer to design a solution to protect the cliff face from collapsing again.
The authority says this work is aimed at finding a way to prevent any erosion of the sloped cliff and to protect motorists from any future collapses.
In a report, published on Tuesday (May 23), Martyn Saxton, head of planning and regeneration, said: “The council will procure a civil engineer to design a remediation solution in respect of a slope failure at Rock Hill.
“It is necessary to install a rock and soil barrier to prevent further slippage of a slope adjacent to Rock Hill.
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“In order to do this, the council needs to appoint a civil engineer to design the preferred solution to prevent any further erosion and to obtain quotes from main contractors for carrying out the works.
“The estimated cost will be about £30,000 for the civil engineer appointment.”
Mr Saxton approved the procurement on Tuesday.
It comes a year after a councillor called for the removal of existing barriers in the road because the solution “can’t go on forever”.
Cllr Andre Camilleri (Con), who is now a district councillor for the Berry Hill ward but spoke in June 2022 in his capacity as a county councillor, said the barriers cost about £170,000 to keep people safe.
He said: “It’s a main road out of Mansfield – you can’t have barriers there forever or you might as well just build the road where the barriers are.
“Somebody is going to get injured in there unless it all gets sorted, if kids got in and it collapsed it would be very dangerous.”
Speaking at the time, Mr Saxon said the authority was working with the county council to “provide a long-term solution” at Rock Hill.
And a Nottinghamshire County Council spokesperson said the traffic measures will be in place until the “best solution” is found.
The county council spokesperson added: “We have been working with Mansfield District Council and other interested parties, along with technical specialists to identify the best solution to stabilise the bank.
“Until these works are complete, traffic management will remain in place to ensure the safety of pedestrians and road users.”
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