Residents concerned over B4069 Lyneham Banks repairs

Repairs to a road following a major landslide are set to be debated at an upcoming meeting after residents objected to the taxpayer funding it would require.

The "historically unstable" B4069 Lyneham Banks road between Chippenham and Lyneham suffered extreme damage following the landslip in February 2022.

It dislodged approximately 90m (295ft) of the carriageway and transported it 25m (82ft) down the hillside.

Wiltshire Council said it had a "legal duty" to work on options to repair the road.

Two years on from when the ground began to buckle and crack, the council submitted plans to carry out the complex repair of the busy road.

But local residents Felicity and Tim Reynolds argued that "instead of throwing more money after bad", the council should look for alternative routes on "more stable ground".

Mr and Mrs Reynolds lodged an objection to the plans over concerns it could easily happen again.

“This land is historically unstable," their comment submitted to the council read.

"The council need to grasp the fact that whilst these repairs may stabilise the road... they will do nothing to prevent, and may even exacerbate, movement in the rest of the road.

“As long-term residents in this area and having personally experienced the continuous subsidence of the B4069 from the Peterborough Arms all the way up to the Antiques depot for the last 25 years, we must raise our objections to the council wasting millions of pounds of council tax payers' money on this project."

The route was previously used by about 5,500 vehicles a day and its closure has affected various businesses in the area, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Repairs to the land would include a retaining wall and a series of drainage ditches to achieve a long-term solution to the ground instability.

The report states highway construction and drainage work were expected to last for the next 60 years, while the heavier engineering elements should last 120 years.

Councillor Richard Clewer, leader of Wiltshire Council, said "Since the closure of the B4069 at Lyneham Banks in February 2022 due to a landslip, we have been working on options to repair the road, as we have a legal duty to do so.

"Our plans are now at an advanced stage and we have announced our intention to award the contract to rebuild the B4069, along with significant drainage works, to Octavius Infrastructure Limited.

"We submitted the planning application to complete these works in February. The application will be processed in the usual way, according to planning law and both local and national planning policies."

Councillors within the Strategic Planning Committee will vote on the plans at a meeting in Trowbridge County Hall on 4 June.