Repairs to B4368 road at Hurst Bend near Clun

The B4368 Clunton to Clun road will be closed for up to four weeks starting on Tuesday 6 May 2014 to enable urgent repairs to be carried out to it. 

Traffic lights were erected on this length of road in February 2014 on an emergency basis after it was found that part of the earth bank which supported the road above the River Clun had slipped, probably as a result of the exceptionally wet weather experienced over the winter. 

The proposed repair will involve removing the slipped bank, and replacing it with a new bank which will be built using approximately 700 tonnes of large boulders. 

Over the last week work has been underway to remove vegetation from the affected bank to remove the risk of the main work being delayed because of nesting birds. 

Unfortunately, in order to carry out the proposed bank reconstruction work safely, it will be necessary to close the B4368 road for the duration of this phase of the work. Therefore the road will be closed on Tuesday 6 May 2014 to both vehicular traffic and pedestrians for a period of up to four weeks. 

When the road is closed, traffic will be diverted along the A488 and B4385 roads via Bishop’s Castle, Lydbury North and Little Brampton. 

When the road reopens, it is estimated that the repair work will continue under traffic light control for another fortnight.  During this time the contactor will be kerbing the edge of the road and erecting a new boundary fence. 

The work will be carried out by the council’s term contract contractor, Ringway. 

When the road is closed, businesses in the area will remain open for business as usual. 

Claire Wild, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for bridge maintenance, said: 

‘‘This is essential work which needs to be carried out to save the road. 

‘‘Whilst it is appreciated that the road closure will cause disruption and inconvenience to the local community, please be assured that everyone involved will do all that they reasonably can to reopen it as soon as possible.  This will include the contractor working from 8am until 9pm for seven days a week during the road closure period.’’