Protecting Isle of Wight's roads could cost £100M

Saving the Isle of Wight's road network from coastal erosion could cost up to £100M, a council officer has said.

A service director at Isle of Wight Council made the admission after a large rockfall at Ventnor last week.

Belgrave Road remains closed and imaging technology is being used to work out how best to remove the debris.

The council recently announced two new job roles to help protect and support the community from landslides and coastal erosion.

The rockfall at Belgrave Road was not the result of a landslide - rather a singular boulder which became detached from the cliffside.

Jim Madden, who lives in a cottage adjoining the cliff said he wasn't surprised when it happened.

"Everyone's thought it's going to fall, for years," said Mr. Madden. "It's been overhanging by a significant amount for a long, long time."

"This road has just been renovated at millions of pounds of cost, and now they don't know what's going to happen," said Mr. Madden. "So, Ventnor's in a tough old spot; nobody knows where it's going to hit next."

Andrew Wilkinson, who lived in the same cottage thirty years ago, said he's been expecting it to fall for decades.

"I'm quite shocked," he said. "It could have happened at any time in the last thirty years - it's just lucky that no-one's underneath it.

"It's happening all the time," said Mr. Wilkinson. "Ventnor's falling into the sea."

Rockfalls and landslide are not wholly preventable, and Ventnor and its surroundings sit in the largest urbanised landslide complex in north-west Europe.

After a large landslip in December 2023, a road connecting the two seaside towns of Ventnor and Shanklin was closed, and road closures have become common on the southern part of the island.

The council is now recruiting for a landslide and coastal loss community coordinator, as well as a complementary role in the highways department.

Michelle Love, service director for highways and community protection at the council, said those roles will work together to build a case that the island requires special consideration for additional central government funding, while supporting the local community.

"We'll focus on putting forward the bigger picture of how the area is used, how people live, how they work, how they travel", said Ms. Love.

Ms. Love said that nothing has been costed yet, but estimated that it could cost around £50-100M to help protect and redevelop the road network.

"We would like to be a flagship for this, and bid big," said Ms. Love.

Ms. Love added that the council is working on implementing and updating monitoring equipment across key points of the island to help improve its early-warning system for landslides.

You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.