AN ISLE of Wight councillor has revealed Ventnor's landslide-hit Leeson Road could reopen within the space of a week.

Cllr Ed Blake, the Isle of Wight Council's member for Ventnor and St Lawrence, posted on social media this evening (Monday, November 25), encouraging news about the closed route between Ventnor and Shanklin.

The road, hit by a major landslide in December and closed last year, reopened for a period during last summer, but was reclosed on September 9.

The closure allowed the Isle of Wight Council and Island Roads to drill three boreholes, to allow the installation of ground monitoring and other data gathering equipment. 

"Council officers have stated today in a conversation with myself, that they’ve asked for Leeson Road to be opened by next Monday — hopefully sooner," Cllr Blake posted on Facebook this evening.

"The only task left to do is put in place the manual monitoring system, to last until the automatic system is live."

Read more: Closure of Leeson Road in Ventnor and everything you need to know

The third and final borehole was due to be completed last week.

The first of them is 115m deep and the second, 130m — both housing equipment designed to record ground movement, and gather data about groundwater conditions across the wider area.

The third borehole, however, has proved more challenging, with a first attempt failing after its casing became lodged in greensand and was irretrievable.

Read more: Isle of Wight Council yet to confirm Leeson Road opening date

It was necessary to drill an alternative borehole 100m deep, to house equipment necessary to monitor ground movement and record underground water pressure — a major factor in ground movement.

The original borehole was due to be backfilled, because the casing stuck within it prevented any meaningful monitoring.

The council, last week, said it had anticipated the third borehole and the installed instrumentation would see the project completed within the predicted ten to 12-week timeframe.