Landslide at Lock's Hill

A landslide has occurred at the Lock’s Hill development site in Kingsbridge.

Lesley Hurrell, who lives at Rack Park Road, on the other side of the valley, heard the landslide happen as she was picking runner beans in her garden.

“There was a huge crash and a bang”, Lesley explained, “I looked over to the site because there is often diggers making noise, and I saw a big dust cloud coming off the hill.

“As I stood and watched, more slipped and I was concerned for the blue digger that was at the bottom of the hill at the time.

“It was so loud, I’d never heard anything like it before. It made me stop what I was doing.”

The landslide - credit Tracy Westlake

Lesley described the noise as “a loud rumble and then a whoosh”.

She said it was getting close to the bottom of the field and she worried about the road and access if there were any further landslides, especially in the future after bad weather or heavy rains.

The landslide - credit Tracy Westlake

The Lock’s Hill development, also known as Garden Hill, has been a site of contention for various reasons over the months that it has been taking place and a planning inspector is due to visit the site tomorrow, Thursday, 4 August.

We reached out to Blakesley Estates Kingsbridge, and a spokesperson said they suspected it was “spoil on site waiting to be moved off site” but that they were looking to confirm that. We will update this story if we hear anything more or receive any further statement from Blakesley Estates.