Save the Military Road

Jill Wareham, local resident and previous campaigner for saving the Military Road over Afton Down has been prompted by two Brighstone Parish Councillors, Roy Havilland (Hulverstone & Mottistone ward) and Peter Simmonds (Brook ward), to start a petition to Save the Military Road.

Jill and other local residents believe there needs to be urgent action taken by the Isle of Wight Council. The Road between Brook and Compton is now less than 15 metres from the cliff edge in places due to cliff falls and the formation of a new chine. Parish Cllrs Havilland and Simmonds raised the issue at a Brighstone Parish Council meeting in February 2009 after a large piece of cliff fell away west of Brook Chine car park. Local residents raised the issue with Jill during the run up to the June elections and the matter has been raised at the Parish Council regularly since then. Minutes of the Brighstone Parish Council's meetings can be viewed on www.iwight.com/council/parish_councils/brighstone/

The Military Road between Brook and Freshwater is very heavily used by locals and tourists alike in the summer months. The road gives access to the beautiful beaches at Compton which are packed with bathers in the summer and surfers ride the waves all the year round. The loss of this part of the road would have a devastating effect on Brook village, where the traffic would be diverted through. It would also have an effect on Freshwater Bay and its businesses as there will be no 'passing trade' from coaches, public transport, and private vehicles.

This road and the views from it feature in a lot of the Council's promotional literature about the Isle of Wight.

Early in January 2010 Jill Wareham contacted Cllr Edward Giles who is the Cabinet member for Environment and Transport to find out when the public meeting, which was mooted by Cllr Bingham at the Brighstone Parish Council, would take place and was informed that it would not be before the Cabinet meeting on 30th March 2010. The 30th March is the date scheduled for a decision to be taken about the future of the Military Road.

Brief History of the Military Road

The most recent work to the Military Road over Afton Down and the re-alignment by Shippards Chine was completed in October 2003. The National Trust would not allow the road to be re-routed over their land so the work to extend the life of the Afton Down road had to be done within the existing carriageway. Local people had been lobbying for 22 years until finally the will and the money was found for works to be done to secure this part of the road for a further 50 years. A long term solution needs to be found to keep the Military Road open.

The old Military Road was originally built by the War Office about 1860 and this road was purchased by the Isle of Wight County Council from the War Department for £3,500. The road when acquired averaged thirty feet between fences with a nine feet gravel track but was considerably overgrown with grass and bushes. The section at Sudmoor was frequently flooded and coastal erosion had resulted in the road at Compton becoming dangerous. The Isle of Wight County Council upgraded and reconstructed the highway from Freshwater Bay to Chale in the 1930s. The scheme included, in part, an entirely new highway to replace the section of the Undercliff Road destroyed by a landslide in 1928 and connecting at Niton with the old Undercliff Road running through St Lawrence and Ventnor to Bonchurch and Shanklin.

The work between Freshwater Bay and Afton Down included the building of a mass concrete retaining wall near the Golf Links and the construction of concrete abutments to the twenty feet carriageway which was surfaced with tarmacadam manufactured at Tapnell Quarry. The section had a gradient of one in ten at Freshwater Bay end, took six months to complete and cost £4,600.

The carriageway between Afton Down and Compton Farm was constructed with concrete abutments, twelve inch stone foundation, and finally three and a half inches of tarmacadam. The cost of this section was £7,500 and commenced in February 1935.

Due to coastal erosion a diversion of a mile of the old road was built between Compton Farm and Seaview Farm at a cost of £11,000.

The narrow road between Seaview Farm to Atherfield was upgraded with gravel and surface dressing and passing places were constructed every quarter of a mile. This cost £4,500 and the final completion of this section was to widen the road throughout at an estimated cost of £40,000.

The final two miles between Atherfield and Chale were reconstructed in 1931/32 as a first installment of the original scheme.

The construction of the new road between Blackgang and Niton was commenced in 1931, took three years to complete and cost £48,000.

Related Links

• Sign Jill Wareham's petition to save the Military Road