A488 Hope Valley set to reopen following landslip work

The A488 Hope Valley is due to reopen on Friday 5 September [2025] following the second phase of work to resolve a number of landslip issues. Work began on 30 June.

Slope stabilisation work has been carried out on slips 1, 2, 3 and 4, along with recently identified kerbing and drainage work to redirect the surface water.

Ahead of the road reopening, Heather Kidd, Shropshire Council Leader and councillor for the area, invited local residents to join her on site on Sunday 31 August to see – and find out more about – the work. The visit was led and co-ordinated by Shropshire Council’s contractor Kier, who have been carrying out the work.

More than 20 people braved the wet weather and were told what work has been completed at each of the four landslips, and heard about the extents of the additional drainage work that has been carried out, and why.

Local residents visited the site on Sunday 31 August before the road reopens to traffic

Councillor Kidd, Shropshire Councillor for Chirbury and Worthen, said:

“I’m grateful to a local resident who asked if it would be possible to visit the site before the road reopened, and to Kier for arranging and leading Sunday’s visit. I know all who attended were grateful for the opportunity and very impressed with what they heard and saw.

“I was also pleased to see how much work has been completed since my previous visit back in early August, and very happy that the road will soon reopen following the completion of this important work.”

Visitors were told more about the work the has been carried out.

Due to the narrow nature of the work, the size of the machinery, and to ensure that the work was carried out safely there has been a 24-hour road closure, seven days a week during the work. Kier made sure that residents could access their homes and, on occasion, let farmers with loads of bales through when possible.

The work is being carried out by Kier on behalf of Shropshire Council, together with WSP.

For more information visit the project page on the Shropshire Council website.

Note: This video – from the first week of August – shows the scale of the work and the progress made  at that time – with Councillor Heather Kidd also visiting the site to see and find out more about the work.