A few people have asked me for an update on the Infirmary Road Cliff story this blog covered in October, November and December. The cliff, above a half-built block of houses in Aberystwyth, is thought to be in real danger of collapse after cracks appeared when workers dug into it with a JCB in an attempt to gain extra land. Since then the Health and Safety Executive have issued a Prohibition Notice restricting work on the site.Ceredigion Council engineers met with those of the developer at the beginning of March and they’ve now all gone away to scratch their heads and conduct further geological investigations before deciding what to do because the cliff presents a real engineering problem. Those involved in initial discussions all seemed to accept that it was too big to simply shore up and that a slice of the cliff would have to either come down or be lifted out. How to do that without risking the half-built houses below is the big question. The legal position is complicated by the fact that the land above isn’t owned by the developer but is part of Parc Natur Penglais, a Local Nature Reserve owned by the Council.
The situation is being closely monitored by the local people running the reserve. Presumably it’s also being closely monitored by Nick Bourne, the leader of the Conservative group in the National Assembly who happens to live a few yards away on the other side of the narrow road.
Thanks to local resident David Kirby for the picture