Residents call for action over road closure

Resident and councillors are calling on Herefordshire Council to reopen a road in a picturesque county village that has been closed for several months.

The single-track C1257 road at Symonds Yat West was closed in June after a stone wall and the nearby road collapsing.

The only alternative for residents to access the 40 properties is via Ferrie Lane Byway alongside the River Wye to the rear of The Old Ferrie Inn.

This byway is narrow (maximum vehicle width 1.9 metres), unlit at night and dangerously potholed with some steep drops to the river – at its lowest point it sometimes floods when the river is high.

Local ward councillor Paul Newman said he has become increasingly ‘shocked and disappointed’ by the apparent inactivity and lack of urgency shown by the council and their highways contractors.

“Action needs to be taken now, both to deal with the long term closure of the C1257 and to improve the currently very limited and frankly dangerous access via Ferrie Lane.

“The most recent work on Ferrie Lane has been frustratingly inadequate and further delays are just not acceptable”.

The road is nearly 1,000 yards long and with no actual passing places except for the sometimes unoccupied private drives or parking areas of residents.

No deliveries are possible – oil supplies and septic tank emptying is very difficult and emergency vehicles have limited access.

Lewis Scott of Holly Tree House said his small business was dependent on tourists accessing his property.

He said: “Because of the road people are now refusing to come and those who are staying are demanding money back.

“Even if we escort them to the house they feel trapped, especially the elderly ones.

“As well as hurting us its hurting the other places locally where they’d spend their money and those tourists are not going to come back.

“So far its cost us over £5000 in compensation and cancelations. I don’t think the council cares and our MP doesn’t even bother to respond to my emails.”

John Blows, another holiday cottage owner, said he once passed a family group trudging out dragging suitcases along Ferrie Lane.

He said: “They were obviously visitors unable to bring in their vehicle.
“Another day I passed an elderly couple, one in a motorised wheelchair, trying with great difficulty to get along Ferrie Lane, again they must have been too frightened or unable to drive their vehicle in.

“A local lady trying to navigate the lane at night met an oncoming vehicle with two elderly occupants who were too frightened to reverse to a passing place – the lady eventually had to reverse and the car fell down the crumbling bank.”

The council is appealing for a section 77 notice under the Building Act 1984, to require the owner of the property, next to the C1257 road, to remove a wall erected without consent.

The council, along with highways contractor Balfour Beatty Living Places, says it has been working to identify a solution with the owner of the wall, experts and residents, as well as working with utility companies to ensure safe supplies can continue to be delivered to properties.

Emergency services have also been made aware of access routes and restrictions.

Transport cabinet member Barry Durkin said: “We are working with local residents and businesses to move this issue forward but have reached the point where enforcement action is necessary and proportionate.

“We consider the wall to be in a dangerous condition and it needs to be made safe before we can proceed to fix the road.

“Our primary goal has always been, and remains, public safety, to reopen the road and provide some vehicle access as soon as it is safely possible to do so,
although it may not be possible to reopen it to large or heavy vehicles again at all due to instability in the area.”