Landslip road to be closed for six weeks

A ROAD used by a large number of lorries will be closed for six weeks while work is carried out to a collapsed bank.

People living along the B4059 Latteridge Road blame the continual HGV traffic for two landslips which happened within weeks of each other earlier this year.

In March a section of the roadside bank fell onto the carriageway, forcing closure of the road so the clay could be scraped away.

Just a month later engineers were back on the scene when more soil, plants and roots slithered down, leading to a partial closure of the road that links the Iron Acton by-pass with the A38 at Rudgeway.

Residents claim the bank has been undermined by the constant flow of lorries.

They have long campaigned to stop HGVs being driven along the road, which also passes historic Acton Court, saying it is too dangerous to allow them to continue.

It is narrow in places and has several sharp bends, making it difficult for lorries to pass and they often hit each other.

Householders complain of cracking walls, falling plaster, deeply eroded boundaries and sleep deprivation caused by noise and vehicle lights, with some people even being hit as they walked along the road.

Temporary traffic lights have been in place at the site of the landslips to control traffic for weeks.

Now work is due to start on Monday to carry out repairs and build a retaining structure to hold back the bank.

South Gloucestershire Council said it believed the cause of the problem at Latteridge Hill was a natural spring under the bank and that a geological study revealed it was susceptible to further slippage.

Residents maintain it has been eroded by the amount of heavy traffic and say the road cannot tolerate it any more.

Lisa Kopper, of the Friends of Acton Court and its resident artist, said: “The road just can’t take it and I’m really worried about Acton Court, which vibrates with the traffic. Visitors who come here just can’t believe such traffic is allowed to come right past this building.”

The width of the road has remained the same for centuries but the amount of traffic it carries has changed hugely, partly due to planning conditions linked to a depot in Yate that is now used by supermarket firm Morrisons.

When it was granted in 1983 by the former Northavon District Council, conditions were imposed to make vehicles use certain roads.

Diversion routes during the works include using the A38, the ring road, A432 Badminton Road and B4059 Stover Road in Yate.