Extra work to stabilise Berry Hill Quarry in Mansfield is planned to give more protection to homes after devastating landslips. Mansfield District Council has already spent £2.3million on works to the cliff face after two separate incidents and the evacuation of houses.
Residents in nearby first had to leave their properties on November 7, 2019, after 1,300 tonnes of sand and rock collapsed into gardens. It followed 'unforeseen' weather conditions which caused a 'complex failure of cliff materials' and forced 32 homes to be evacuated across Bank End Close and Stone Bank.
Nineteen of the homes remained empty for two weeks and alternative accommodation was provided to people without nearby friends or family. The same quarry face then slipped again on Christmas Eve in 2020, forcing four Bank End Close homes to be evacuated again.
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The council has since stabilised the quarry face around both streets, including installing mesh and eight-metre soil nails into the quarry face alongside a 2.5-metre protective 'buffer' fence to separate gardens from the cliff. Just over £2.3m has been spent on the project since it began in 2021 and the authority says the first phase of works concluded in autumn last year.
Now it is due to allocate a further £1.349m in the 2023-24 budget for a final phase of work. The Labour-run council says protective mesh will be installed between Stone Bank, White Rose Avenue and Mill Rise Road to prevent rocks from falling off the quarry.
The work has been described as 'extra, advisory and precautionary' and will ensure homes near the quarry face are not impacted by falling debris. James Biddlestone is the authority's head of people and transformation.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "The stabilisation in the primary area – Stone Bank and Bank End Close – included the installation of mesh and peg, catch fencing and the tecco mesh system. All works for this stage were completed in autumn of 2022. The council has spent just over £2.3m on this project to date.
"A secondary phase of work will see mesh installed from Stone Bank towards White Rose Avenue and Mill Rise Road area. This is extra, advisory, and precautionary work along the cliff face that would benefit from additional protection to properties in this area."
No further cash has been allocated for the cliff works after the 2023-24 financial year, with the project expected to be complete by March next year.
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