No end in sight for Guernsey’s longest-running road closure

Ruette des Touillets, near Fairfield in Castel, has been closed for more than a year after a property wall starting leaning out over the roadway.

A number of large concrete blocks have been placed to prop up the bulging wall, which is part Les Touillets, the manor house which borders much of the road.

Property owner Philip Mallard had previously blamed increased traffic flow in the lane over the years for contributing to the wall’s instability, and the impact of vehicles on the wall once the lane was to reopen.

In June he said the matter was in the hands of engineers, who were in discussions with the States.

Laura Oxburgh, head of on-island travel & transport implementation at the States, said it wanted to see the road reopened as soon as it was safe to do so.

‘We have been engaging with the property owner and their advisers to seek to achieve this,’ she said.

‘We will continue to engage directly with the relevant parties on this matter.’

The matter was brought up at last month’s parish meeting, where senior constable Kelvin Hudson said the parish had been involved in a meeting on site with the owner of the property and representatives of Traffic & Highways.

He said that there was an agreement between all parties that the wall was unsafe, but disagreement over how to deal with it.

‘The property owner’s engineer blames traffic use in the lane, particularly heavy commercial vehicles and poor drainage of rainwater in the road.’

He added that THS had a letter drafted with directions for the property owner.

‘I understood that this letter is now with the law officers and although I have inquired, I have no idea when it might be issued,’ he said.

‘Other residents in the road have been spoken to.

‘They favour the road being closed to traffic or made one way, but THS believe that there is no justification for this.’

The narrow lane, which is only 300 metres long, connects Rue Piette and Route de l’Eglise and had historically been a short cut for drivers avoiding the lights near Castel Church.

The ruette tranquille has now been blocked since the beginning of September last year, with only pedestrians and cyclists able to pass the obstruction.

Anne and Bill Pollard live in one of three other houses in the road.

They said that they and all their neighbours were enjoying the road being closed.

‘We appreciate that it is an inconvenience for some and the traffic has certainly been backing up at the traffic lights.’ said Mr Pollard.

‘But when it was open it was is a real rat run. It could be horrendous especially at school run times.

‘It is notionally meant to be 15 miles an hour, but the law is exactly 35 and the cars would race past. It’s a narrow road with no passing places and we would get 20 or 30 cars up our driveway every day.’

There had been suggestions that the road could be made one way, but the Pollards were not in favour.

‘Our fear would be that would just make the traffic go even faster,’ said Mr Pollard.

‘Unfortunately we can’t see it remaining this way forever as I believe a lot of people who used to use it have complained to the parish.’

The owners of Les Touillets have been approached for comment, but did not respond by the time the newspaper went to print.