A ROAD in Kearsley was left buried in tonnes of material following a landslide as Storm Christoph showed its force in the borough last week.

Trees, soil and other grounded materials were forced to the bottom of Quarry Road, cutting off a busy access route for residents and businesses.

Susan Govindasamy, who lives at the top of Quarry Road, is one of a number of residents who were informed about the damage caused on Wednesday night.

People living in the area were told by Bolton Council that the materials, which were estimated by Susan’s husband Mark to be 100 tonnes in weight, were due to be removed on Thursday.

In the meantime, barriers were put up to block motorists from passing through.

But the highways teams were unable to carry out the work as staff attended a number of other incidents across Bolton after heavy rain struck the town in three consecutive days.

Susan, 57, said: “Police told us about the landslide on Wednesday night and then we saw it for ourselves on Thursday morning.

“There was a great deal of earth that came away.

“My husband thinks there were 100 tonnes of trees, soil and other materials.”

Susan was also concerned that the delay in removing the blockage in the road would stop a delivery of vital goods for her two horses.

She was awaiting the arrival of essentials on Saturday morning and raised concerns with the council that the delivery from Golborne would have to be stopped due to the large vehicle not being able to reach her property.

The road is “very popular for cutting through”, Susan added.

The incident was reported by Farnworth and Kearsley First Cllr Julie Pattison, who said the area where the incident happened used to be a well known spot for landslides.

But there have not been any similar incidents recently.

Cllr Pattison said: “I reported the landslide to the council when I was told about it.

“I was shocked when I saw it.

“Historically that area has always been notorious for landslides.

“It is concerning for the residents in the houses at the top of Quarry Road.

“It is very disappointing that the materials were not removed on Thursday morning like I was told they would be.

“But the civil contingency team at Bolton Council had a lot of work to do because of Storm Christoph.

“The storm was a real force of nature.”

In response to the incident, a Bolton Council spokesman said: “The safety of the adopted highway that runs by the embankment is the council’s primary concern.

"Initial monitoring hasn’t indicated any further movement in the ground.

"We will carry out additional surveys to see if we need to close the road completely or if further action is needed.

"The land is unregistered.”

The local authority did not report any major flooding last week, as rainfall fell in high numbers.

And Cllr Pattison said flood defences in Kearsley, that had only been completed the weekend before Storm Christoph, stood up to the challenge.

Homes on Riverside Drive, Prestolee and Smiths Road have been flooded before, an issue that has been well documented and scrutiny has been put on the council on how it could prevent such problems from happening again.

However, during this latest bout of adverse weather, homes in that area were unaffected, Cllr Pattison said.

“We did know the defences were going to be tested at some point but we didn’t know it was going to be this soon. The defences stood strong.”