A road between Blandford and Shaftesbury that has been closed for two weeks due to a landslip at Melbury Abbas will reopen in the next few weeks.
Dorset County Council and the landowners will start a clear-up operation next week after being given the go ahead from specialist geo-technical engineers, who assessed the site for evidence of further slips.
An estimated 30-50 tonnes of soil slipped from the slopes in the early hours of Wednesday 9 March. The weight of the material displaced concrete barriers that the council had placed along the hollow to protect road users following a report in 2014 that suggested that the slopes were unstable.
Cllr Peter Finney, the council’s Cabinet member for environment, said:
“We are pleased that the concrete barriers did their job and held back the majority of the slippage. And looking at what happened they would have prevented a car being submerged, therefore potentially saving lives.”
“The slip seems to have been caused by water run-off from nearby land. And although we undertook some tree work in the hollow earlier this year, this slip area was not part of this work.”
Since 2014 there have been negotiations with local communities to agree a strategy for stabilising the slopes, maintaining the hollow and keeping the road open to all users.
An advisory, voluntary one-way system for HGVs has been implemented to reduce the possibility of two HGVs passing on some of the narrow parts of both the A350 and C13. This scheme will be enhanced with advisory signs in the next few months.
And discussions are continuing with the Department of Transport, and a delegation of councils looking at the opportunity to upgrade transport links between Poole port and the M4
For more details about Dinah’s Hollow visit www.dorsetforyou.com/dinahs-hollow