Exasperated residents say it’s ‘about time’ as the council announce repair works to fix a major road in Finchampstead have begun. 

The Ridges will have been closed for 18 months if it is re-opened by Wokingham Borough’s Council’s “anticipated” date of November 4, having been inaccessible to the public since April 2021.  

Initially the council had outlined plans for the road to be repaired and re-opened by spring 2022, in order to fix a collapsed segment of the road between the Finchampstead war memorial and Dell Road, however, it was subsequently delayed until Autumn.   

Residents have decried the “ridiculous” time it’s taking for the road to be fixed after the “many months” it has been closed. 

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The executive member for active travel, transport and highways, Councillor Paul Fishwick, acknowledged that it’s been a “long and frustrating period” for residents but was “pleased” that the restoration work has begun. 

 “As with all work of this nature, timescales can change. This could happen if there is a spell of bad weather that means it is not safe for contractors to work, or that they need certain conditions for the materials to work effectively, or if something unexpected is uncovered,” he added. 

Sections of The Ridges started to collapse in Spring of last year, with the council concluding that it wouldn’t have been safe to “just patch up” the road and wanted to find “a long-term solution” to stop it from re-occuring. 

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Engineers had been working on the site to determine what was causing the issue and to produce some “viable solutions” that take into consideration long term stability, disruption time, value for money and environmental impacts. 

A solution of soil nails was subsequently chosen, which involves steel bars and mesh being inserted into the side of the embankment to prevent slippage. 

It was put out to tender and VSL Systems Ltd, a specialist structural systems and ground engineering company who have worked on projects such as HS2, have now been appointed to carry out the work. 

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“Schemes such as this are complex, and specialists have been working behind the scenes for many months to find the best way to stabilise the embankment and repair the road to allow it to be opened again to traffic,” said Cllr Fishwick. 

Whilst The Ridges has been closed, Dell Road, Cricket Hill and the Lower Sandhurst Road have been used as diversion routes, subsequently these are now showing signs of wear and tear.  

The council says it will “inspect these roads to identify what remedial works are required”, with a view to begin the repair work in Spring of next year.