£80m bill to stop Ironbridge Gorge land slippage

The bill to combat land slippage and instability at Shropshire's World Heritage Site is in excess of £80 million, Telford MP David Wright was due to tell ministers today.

The Government has been promising for months to reveal whether it will bankroll the multi-million pound scheme to preserve and protect Ironbridge Gorge.

Mr Wright, who has been lobbying ministers on the issue since the turn of the year, was this afternoon spearheading a Westminster debate calling for much-needed investment in the area.

It follows three years of campaigning and reports from consultants, the Environment Agency and local and central government officers.

Speaking ahead of the showdown with Local Government Minister Bob Neill, Mr Wright said: "There are around 4,000 people who live in the Gorge and there are serious concerns about land stability which impacts on property and on the general environment.

"We need a significant level of government investment in the coming years to resolve these problems.

"We need more than £80 million - and we need this funding urgently. Ironbridge Gorge is a World Heritage Site - so the Government has to take responsibility for its protection."

Scientific studies within the last decade have shown as much as three quarters of Ironbridge is unstable due to its unusual geology, which features conflicting underground pressures and high levels of sand and clay.

This year, Mr Neill wrote to Mr Wright to confirm the result of the long-running deliberations on Whitehall funding would be revealed by the end of February after the outcome of the Coalition Government's spending review. But there has been no announcement.

"We've been waiting a long time for two Governments to deal with this and I'm going to make sure ministers deliver on their promises," continued Mr Wright.

"It can't just fall to the local community and residents to pick up all the bill," added the Labour MP.

The scale of the project - and the cash needed - were revealed by Tory Party chairman Eric Pickles during a visit to the Gorge in 2009. He said £86 million was needed to protect it.

By London Reporter Sunita Patel