Calstock landslip will be fixed by end of May

A road that collapsed, splitting a Cornish village in two on Christmas Day, should finally be repaired by the end of May. The Marines had to be called to Calstock to rescue stranded cars, and a shuttle service is still ferrying supplies to homes that were cut off.

Engineers say around 300 tones of land collapsed in a landslip that has cut a Cornish village in two.

Lower Kelly Road in Calstock had been a busy thoroughfare for 200 years - but now a large part of it is sitting 16 feet below its original position.

Contractors Cormac say the main task has been to stabilise the landslip before a new road could be built.

Ian Newby called it a 'massive task':

People living in Calstock say knowing the road will be open by the end of May is a huge relief.

The landslide has split the village in two making life difficult for residents. Dorothy Kirk said it has created a 'fractured society'.

At one point the Royal Marines were brought in to recover more than forty cars cut off by the slip.

Since then a shuttle service has been operating to bring in supplies.

Engineers working to repair a landslip which has split a Cornish village in two say it should be fixed by the end of May.

There have been months of disruption since part of Lower Kelly Road collapsed at Christmas.

The road, that had linked both sides of Calstock for more than 200 years, was reduced to rubble.

Engineers struggled to know where to begin. Jeremy Edwards is from Cornwall Council Highways:

The Royal Marines are continuing their operation to move cars trapped by a landslide in the Cornish village of Calstock.

Yesterday the marines used landing craft to ferry most of the cars to a nearby quay. Today they're removing the remaining eleven vehicles.

The Royal Marines have come to the aid of a village in south east Cornwall that's been cut off by a landslide.

More than forty cars have been stranded in Calstock since Christmas. Today the Marines used a fleet of landing craft to retrieve them and ferry them along the River Tamar to a nearby quay.

The whole rescue operation is thanks to a ten year old schoolboy who came up with the idea of involving the military. Our Cornwall correspondent Steve Hardy reports.

The Royal Marines will today start moving more than 40 cars stranded by a landslide in Calstock in south east Cornwall.

The village has been cut in two since the landslide which happened over Christmas. A landing craft will be used to tranport the cars to a nearby quay.

Residents in Calstock in Cornwall are still waiting to hear when a road that collapsed on Christmas Day might get fixed. Five families are staying with friends after being evacuated from Commercial Road in Lower Kelley. The road collapsed after heavy rainfall.

Engineers are tonight trying to work out how to reconnect part of a village on the Devon and Cornwall border which has been cut off after a road collapse. It could be months before the road in Calstock is repaired.

Cars belonging to around twenty residents are stranded on one side of the massive landslip. In the west of Cornwall, a crewman from a river ferry was rescued by lifeboat after his boat was caught up in a fast flowing tide.