A3055 proposals may be only tip of the iceberg

Press Release: March 8^th, 2005:  

Residents in the South of the Isle of Wight are continuing their fight to stop a major road and drainage scheme* destroying large sections of protected cliffs, woodland and other habitats, as well as threatening settlement in buildings and loss of water resources along the famous but unstable slopes of the Undercliff between Ventnor and Niton.

Concerned residents now grouped under the banner of the Undercliff Defence Committee believe the project will be poor value for money, since it claims to increase slope stability along the road by up to 30% at best for an initial cost of GBP13.1m, yet will trash much of the Undercliff wooded scenery, rich in rare species, and scar the famous cliff faces.

They also believe the eventual cost of the scheme could rocket from GBP13.1m to between GBP25m and over GBP40m, based on cost overruns in past coastal projects with which the Council’s consultants High-Point Rendel have been associated. 

Worse still, they suspect that once in place, both English Nature and the Environment Agency will come under irresistible pressure from the Council to install sea defences to defend the huge road investment, destroying rare coastal and marine habitat. The group has demanded to know if this is in Council contingency plans, but is still awaiting an answer.

The Undercliff Defence Committee has demanded that the Government Office of the South East (GOSE) reconsider its decision not to call in the scheme for Public Inquiry. 

The group has this week demanded a detailed explanation as to why GOSE refused to call in the controversial application, preventing discussion of impacts from it and of less damaging alternatives.

In a letter to GOSE this week, biodiversity and climate change consultant Dr Paul K  Hatchwell said: "I believe the Secretary of State has seriously underestimated the growing degree of public controversy on this matter, and failed to note its wider implications, not least possible planning blight in both the Undercliff and Western Ventnor due to impacts of deep drainage on property that were not specifically covered in the Environmental Statement."

The UDC letter claims that "we also have reason to believe discussion of the full extent of associated works has been suppressed to aid passage of this application".

UDC attacked the Council's 'heroic' assumption that the project will remain within its GBP13.1m budget, pointing out that "overspend across five recent coastal contracts with which [engineering consultants] High-Point Rendel has been associated has averaged 91%, while an initial GBP4.3m estimate for Castlehaven at Niton appears to have exceeded GBP6m even before work began in 2003."

Dr Hatchwell, who represented the group in an attempt to block the Isle of Wight Council's decision to approve the scheme on February 15^th, pointed out that "the Council approved the scheme in spite of unresolved concerns over damage to protected landscape, loss of woodland, threat to water supplies and risks of subsidence and settlement due to groundwater drainage".

Dr Hatchwell also said that "several residents that took the time to write to GOSE as well as Isle of Wight Council, with very specific concerns, have been angered to receive standard letters back on behalf of the Secretary of State, but with no effort to explain specifically why an inquiry has been refused".

"It is particularly lamentable that, while English Nature nationally has a target requiring all SSSIs [Sites of Special Scientific Interest] "to be in favourable condition by 2010", on the Isle of Wight it will preside over the reduction in status of the Compton Chine to Steephill Cove SSSI from 'favourable' currently (over 95%) to 'partially damaged', and compromise the status of a key section of the South Wight Maritime Special Area of Conservation", says UDC.

The group has also slammed the Council for failing to deliver adequately on surveys of mammals that could be threatened by the scheme, and for failing to release a tree survey it had promised, even though some 520 trees are earmarked for felling shortly.

UDC also attacked the Council’s 'heroic' assumption that the project will remain within its GBP13.1m budget. They pointed out that "overspend across five recent coastal contracts with which [engineering consultants] High-Point Rendel has been associated has averaged 91%, while an initial GBP4.3m estimate for Castlehaven at Niton appears to have exceeded GBP6m even before work began in 2003."

"At this rate, the A3055 scheme is almost certain to exceed GBP25m, and up to GBP43m if it follows the typical pattern of cost escalations in H-PR's most complex/least effective contracts such as at Robin Hood's Bay", they said 

The group added that "we do not find it credible that the Council would allow such a heavy investment to be lost to the sea in the event of further slips and the inevitable 'unforeseen challenges'", and demanded to know whether there were contingency plans for later coastal defences which would destroy part of the South Wight Maritime Special Area of Conservation.

The current policy is to let natural coastal erosion continue to maintain rare coastal and marine habitats in the SAC, but UDC fear that there will be a vested interest in trying to protect the heavy road investment if it goes ahead.  

 *RE: Planning Application for Stabilisation and Realignment of  A3055 between St Lawrence and Niton, Isle of Wight (TCP/26467/A - P/01467/04 & TCP/26467/ - P/01465/04):

Undercliff Defence Committee:

Dr Paul K Hatchwell: 01983 855458 (Technical issues)

Barbara Wright: 01983 730455 (UDC)

Note to Editors: The Undercliff Defence Committee was formed in early 2005 by residents of the Undercliff, Niton, St Lawrence and Ventnor to protect the landscape, nature and water resources of the Undercliff, and to protect properties from loss of amenity, excessive traffic noise and settlement damage through excessive drainage. It believes in a sustainable approach to transport recognising both the instability of the area and its environmental sensitivity, and advocates continual reinstatement of the existing road with traffic restrictions for as long as practicable given rapid cliff recession, backed up by use of the Whitwell Road.

  Home     Contact UDC: +44(0)1983 730455;  +44(0)1983 856688   Email: post@undercliff.org