NEW and innovative electro-kinetic treatment will be used to reopen English Bicknor’s Ross Road in the Forest of Dean this spring.

The road has been closed between English Bicknor and Lower Lydbrook since the beginning of the year when a landslip caused it to crack and open up.

To keep motorists safe, a diversion was put in place through Lydbrook whilst the county council carried out tests and looked at options to make the road and the ground underneath stable.

The repair work, which began this week, will use a cost-effective and innovative electro-kinetic treatment which has already been used in award-winning schemes in other parts of the UK.

The electro-kinetic treatment will drain excess water from the ground to speed up the drying out process.

It will also help to make the soil stronger and stiffer so that the road can be reconstructed while the treatment is taking place, reducing the time it will take to complete.

The work is being financed from the £3.3 million awarded to Gloucestershire County Council through the government’s severe weather recovery scheme.

In February 2015 the road will reopen under temporary traffic lights, and the plan is to have it fully reopen again in the spring.

Vernon Smith, cabinet member for highways and flood said: “I am really pleased that our work is underway in English Bicknor to stabilise and reconstruct the road.

"It is a big challenge in engineering terms but we have come up with a neat solution by using electro-kinetic treatment which will save the tax payer money too.

“I would like to thank the local community for their patience as I realise the closure has caused some inconvenience and I hope people will be pleased with the result.

“Please bear with us whilst the work is carried out, we will get the road open again as soon as possible.”