Jackfield £17 million transformation complete

The first trees were being planted in Jackfield to mark the last phase of work on the stabilisation work.

But now, the area is overcome with green grass, and the seedlings are beginning to sprout their first branches.

For people living in the area, it marks life returning to normal, after years of disruption while the vital stabilisation work went on.

Sandra Higson, of Janet & Sandra's Craft Shop, based at the Maws Craft Centre, said it had been a struggle over the past few years while the work was going on but described it as a "whole new world" now the hillside is returning to normal.

She said: "They had to do some more work at the river's edge and they've started to open up some of the walkways. Hopefully by next week they should all be open.

"It is fantastic, when we saw it at the start it was just mud, mud, mud, then they opened the new road and that made a huge difference.

"Now it is just stunning. It is completely different but that is what we hoped would happen."

"We're definitely seeing more visitors, we're getting people coming in saying they haven't been here for a few years and what a difference there is.

"People say that it is a lot quicker to get down to us, really the road is the same length but it is so much more open and there is lots to see.

"But we're all still here, we're through the other side."

The Jackfield Stabilisation Project has halted land movement on the southern bank of the River Severn, and the high cost has included a council contribution of £5.6 million.

The council is continuing to lobby government for further funding to address instability issues throughout the Ironbridge Gorge, with a further £60 million plus needed in the coming years.

However it says that its current programme of stabilisation has ended and due to financial pressures on the council it is unlikely to begin any new work in the near future.

Charlotte Dade, a spokeswoman for Telford & Wrekin Council, said: "We have come to the end of our current programme of stabilisation and due to the current financial pressures on the council, at the moment, there are no plans to further that."

The project has seen the council install concrete piles on the south bank hillside to stop the land from slipping.

The initial work to stabilise the land finished in September 2015, but the area has remained a building site as contractors McPhillips of Wellington completed other essential works.

The £17.6 million project has included the treatment of underground mine workings in the area.

Piles have been installed to create reinforcements beneath the land as well as river bank protection to prevent further erosion.

There has been drainage of water from the land to prevent anything that may cause future land movement, and a new highway has been built between the end of the Tile Museum to near Maws Craft Centre to replace the existing road and landscaping.

Restoration works have continued throughout last winter after the piling was completed.

Due to the relatively young geological age of the Gorge – which was formed at the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 years ago – the area is prone to land slips and instability.

In recent years, stabilisation works have been needed on Jiggers Bank, which leads into Coalbrookdale.

A stretch of road across the River Severn from the stabilisation works in Jackfield was also closed briefly in 2015 to secure the overhanging rock face which had become loose.