Work begins on road closed after wall collapse

Work has started to rebuild a collapsed wall in Newlyn but drivers struggling with a long diversion in narrow lanes have been told the works will take five weeks.

Chywoone Hill was closed by Cornwall Council for safety reasons in February after a privately-owned stone wall above the road collapsed.

At a public meeting last week, villagers voiced concern about narrow lanes being clogged up with extra traffic because of the closure.

Local councillor Thalia Marrington said the main diversion was "very, very long" but the council would consider installing an advisory one-way system to help ease the traffic issues.

She said workers would be on site seven days a week "working as hard and fast as they can".

Marrington explained a traffic diversion had to incorporate roads that were the same size as the closed road or larger.

Retired bus driver Alexander Hoare, who lives in a terrace off Chywoone Hill, said the roads could not cope.

He said: "The local streets can't cope with the traffic going through the narrow roads because they were meant for horses and carts in the old days.

"They're not meant for vans, cars and SUVs.

"I've seen people get out their cars frustrated and people can't back up... because there's nowhere to back up to unless you go all the way back down the hill again, and lots of people can't reverse in narrow areas."

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