RESIDENTS of a Monmouthshire village are demanding assurances that the chaotic scenes of an enormous landslide earlier this week never happen again.

A staggering 200 tonnes of mud and uprooted trees spilled onto the A466 at Tintern following torrential rainfall on Tuesday morning, forcing police to close the road.

It was the third incident of its kind in 11 months to occur at the same location, Barbadoes Hill, which banks directly onto the main road through the village.

No one was injured in any of the incidents, which was "more to luck" than anything else according to residents.

They fear Barbadoes Hill is still dangerously unstable and believe someone could be killed if the steep and densely wooded embankment is not stabilised quickly, and proper drainage systems are not built.

Graham Scott, 47, a sales director, believes building work carried out in the last two years had interfered with natural watercourses.

Neighbour Jane Morgan said: "We're all very worried. The hill needs to be made stable because if there's a lot more bad weather then it's definitely going to go again."

Dougie Hughes, 70, a retired aircraft engineer, said: "The trees are too tall. They need to be cut down because there's too much weight on the subsoil, which is made up of leaf mould."

Dawn Floyd, chair of Tintern community council, claimed the Forestry Commission had failed to act on the warning signs of the previous incidents.

The Forestry Commission has dispatched a team of civil engineers and environmental experts to the site to determine the cause of the latest landslide.

However, a spokesman said their efforts had been hampered by wet weather, which is set to continue into the weekend.

He said he understood residents' concerns, and promised the Forestry Commission would leave "no stone unturned" in determining what remedial work needed to be carried out.

Monmouthshire council workers cleared the road by yesterday afternoon, and contractors laid concrete safety barriers in the middle of the road. However, the day of reopening has been put back until Friday.

Following the landslip in February, the Forestry Commission dug a culvert to channel rainwater flowing from a disused quarry away from Barbadoes Hill.

A spokesman said it appeared that the run-off water in the latest incident came from a different source, but it was too early to say which one.

  • A public meeting has been arranged for 7.30pm on February 4 at Tintern Village Hall to discuss the problem of landslips in the area. The Forestry Commission said it would consider an invitation to attend.