An open letter to National Highways (NH) regarding the lack of action over the past seven years has been sent by a geologist monitoring developments

Andy Smith says in the letter that The A40 Safety Group “continues to be shocked by the failure of National Highways” in noting recent monitoring reports on the geology of the hillside above the A40.

He said there were two smaller landslides that occurred in 2018 and 2019 close to the 2023 landslide which led to the current closure of the carriageway.

He claims: “The earlier landslides provided clear advance warning of that area’s instability and were reported to you, but they were not acted upon” and resulted in the unplanned road closure” and asks why the works to remove the landslide and stabilise the hillside been further delayed until winter?

Regarding yet another A40 closure on the nights of 6 and 7 June to repair the drains on the other side of the contraflow, he explained that the road was “constructed for 1960s traffic with hillside drainage works that are largely lost or no longer functioning beneath it.

“The movement of all traffic onto the lower carriageway in a contraflow system for a sustained period of time has already had a serious impact on the integrity of the road surface and its drains.

“The public have been repeatedly told that there is no evidence that the unstable hillside presents a risk. This is untrue.”

He went on to say that in 2018 a landslide on part of the slope previously considered “low risk” occurred (pictured).

“There was a second landslide close by in 2019 but NH did nothing until a third slide in the area encroached on the eastbound carriageway in 2023 causing the present problems.”

He claimed a monitoring report produced by contractor KIER for NH in 2021 covered four years, meaning that the 2018 landslide was not reported until 2021 “showing that the NH monitoring and reporting system was neither constant nor fit for purpose. “

“Your Public Relations office has pretended that all major landslides occurred thousands of years ago. The opinions of geologists in the reports made available by National Highways show that this is untrue. Putting the three known major historic landslides aside, there have been many landslides bigger than the current road blockage over the past 100 years, including several large land movements and one major landslide during the road’s construction. To pretend that the hillside is not unstable is simply irresponsible.”

He went on to hope that NH will encourage those responsible to plan to build an alternative route now. “Your managers have made all of the available reports on this road since its construction available to us.

“It seems that the A40 Safety Group are the only people who have actually studied all of the data available. We are not experts but we are also not stupid and the instability of the hillside is both obvious and frequently acknowledged in past reports made by disinterested professionals. “

A National Highways spokesperson said:“For some 60 years we have monitored this area drawing on the expertise of specialists renowned in their field and currently have a team of experts designing a solution to repair the recent localised rockfall. We will continue to monitor and assess the wider stretch of road.

“Although we are disappointed that misleading information is being shared, despite our best and continued efforts to reassure and fully inform those involved, it is impossible to offer detailed technical discussions in a public discourse. Solutions are in the process of being finalised, assessed and verified and further details will be provided in due course and shared at public events.

“Safety is, and always has been, our priority and we are satisfied with the extensive evidence gathered over six decades, plus current detailed studies, which our experts are aligned and agreed upon.”

Landslips and rockfalls are not the same and are dealt with differently. We are currently working to resolve last year’s rockfall and protecting against any repetition in this area.