More work needed to reduce risk of another landslide

UP TO £600K COST OF KEEPING HOMES PROTECTED

- By JOSEPH CONNOLLY Local democracy reporter

MANSFIELD District Council needs to spend up to £600,000 on further stabilising works at an old quarry where a landslide happened six years ago.

On November 7, 2019, the cliff face at Berry Hill collapsed, sending 1,300 tonnes of debris and mud cascading towards residential properties on two cul-de-sacs.

It led to 60 residents being evacuated from their homes.

Urgent repair work was completed within weeks so people could move back in, and after two more landslides in the next two years, permanent stabilisation works took place, starting in the spring of 2021 and finishing in autumn of 2022.

But now, four and a half years on, geology experts Fairhurst have told the council that more remedial work needs to be completed in a “timely manner” to mitigate further risk.

At a meeting on Thursday, council chief executive James Biddlestone awarded the works contract - the value of which has not been disclosed - to an anonymous contractor, which was one of two companies that bid for the chance to complete the work.

Documents say the anticipated maximum cost of the contract is £600,000.

Berry Hill Quarry, on the south side of Mansfield city centre, was a sandstone quarry used for the extraction of sandstone in the second half of the 20th century.