Landslip road to reopen

Harley Bank, near Much Wenlock, looks set to reopen tomorrow after a landslide involving more than 100 tonnes of rock.

The rock fall on the A458 between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth happened early on Friday and left the Shrewsbury-bound carriageway completely blocked to motorists.

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Chris Edwards, for Shropshire Council, today said: "Our contractors have worked over the weekend and have removed approximately 1,500 tonnes of unstable and fallen soil and rock.

"The removal of this material has revealed further cracks and unstable rock in the old quarry and our contractors will be working today to remedy this.

"We hope that this work will be completed to enable the road to be reopened under temporary signal control during tomorrow.

"Our geologist will be on site today and tomorrow to investigate the area, to ensure there are no more faults in the rock surface and to assess any further action required."

He added: "We are sorry for any inconvenience caused during this road closure and would like to assure people that we are working hard to reopen the road as soon as possible."

Ten months ago the then Shropshire County Council undertook a £300,000 improvement scheme in a bid to make Harley Bank more secure. There were two landslides in February.