Agriculture, Countryside & Land Management Services has said it appreciated the frustration surrounding the path to Divette, near Marble Bay.
A concrete section of the path near the bay has been badly undermined by heavy rainfall, leaving a section unsupported.
This has been assessed and declared unsafe.
‘Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to fixing the path due to the soft cliff behind and either side of the area which is continually eroding as a result of the significant volume of rain water running through the soft cliff from the higher land above,’ a spokesperson for ACLMS said.
‘The footpath also runs immediately below an ancient landslip that runs the width of the bay.’
The landslip has been professionally reviewed and given the very heavy rain over winter, in March, and again more recently, there continues to be concern.
Significant landslips can occur without warning so walkers are advised to pay attention to the signs.
This landslip adds additional complexity to the work required to make the path safe again.
An alternative route for a path has been investigated but has not been found feasible under the current budget.
However, this will be reconsidered as part of future improvement schemes.
The area of Soldiers’ Bay has also had frequent rock falls alongside the steps and the path.
Large sums were spent there on rock catch netting for falls in 2004.
A different area then fell within two years and there are regular rock falls from the cliffs near the steps.
The cost of making this route safe is prohibitive under current budget constraints, the spokesperson said.
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.