St Helena : Jamestown Rockfall Protection Project Update
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Juanita Brock) 04.02.2009 (Article Archived on 18.02.2009)
There have been further developments with regard to the Jamestown Rockfall Protection Project.
JAMESTOWN ROCKFALL PROTECTION PROJECT
Following the last Press Release, there have been further developments with regard to the Jamestown Rockfall Protection Project. Work has started on the erection of a catch fence above the road in the Frenchman’s Bend area. This is not the main pilot works phase. The catch fence is a safety measure considered necessary before starting the main pilot works higher up the slope. While the catch fence is being erected, Ladder Hill Road will not be closed but road users will continue to experience delays, as earlier advised, until this work is completed. Bobby Essex said “the public are thanked for their patience during this time.”
An application for development permission for the main pilot works has been approved by the Land Planning & Development Control Board, subject to any objections that may be received during the public consultation period. If there are no objections, the work will involve the installation of rockfall containment netting over an area of about 3750 square metres (that is 50 metres wide by 75 metres long) in the area where the rockfall occurred in August 2008. This work is scheduled to begin on 9 February after the end of the public consultation period. The necessary equipment and materials, which have been sourced with the assistance of CAN France and funded by DFID will arrive on the RMS when she returns from Cape Town on 6 February. A second Trainer, Alex Pearson, will also arrive on that voyage.
To allow for this work to be completed, the Highways Authority has given approval for Ladder Hill Road to be closed from 7.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays for a period of four weeks commencing from 9 February. It is appreciated that this will cause even greater inconvenience than that experienced at present, but this measure was considered to be necessary in the interests of safety and to allow the proposed works to be completed within the scheduled timescale. For safety reasons, it is anticipated that residents in the Thompsons Yard to Seales’s Corner area will be evacuated on the Monday of each week only. These are the days when the higher risk work of laying the netting will be done. It is not considered necessary for the residents of Moore’s Flats to be evacuated. The effect that the work may have on the pupils at Pilling School will be discussed with the staff and parents at a meeting this evening, Monday 2 February 2009.
Bobby said: “The Police, Fire Service, Social Services and other agencies are briefing all those concerned. All of us involved with the Project consider that safety must be of paramount importance and it is hoped that any measures taken during the period of the project will be construed in this light.”
Public Relations/Information Office
Office of the Chief Secretary
2 February 2009
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