Our home is teetering on edge of a 25ft CLIFF & earth beneath us keeps crumbling away – we could be crushed any second
With bad weather incoming the couple are afraid they, or their house, won't make it
AN ELDERLY couple is constantly living on edge – literally – after a landslip left their home precariously above a 25ft embankment.
Tom and Jennifer Evans, both 79, own a bungalow on the Isle of Wight that balances precariously on the edge of a drop.
When a landslip hit their home some 20 months ago, they were left in need of urgent repairs for risk of their home collapsing on top of them.
The council, who assumed responsibility of the embankment, are yet to carry these out.
The couple are currently on the brink and are fed up with the council’s inertia.
Mr Evans is concerned the bungalow no longer has value, adding: “My house is unsellable at the moment, there’s no way I could sell it.
“I’ve got no other means of support. It’s now impacting our quality of life.”
Mrs Evans’ reduced range of motion exacerbates the issue who since hasn’t been able to install accessibility ramps for her mobility scooter.
The condition has left the retired care home worker in a lot of pain who moves very slowly, taking 20 minutes to walk to the bus stop across the road.
Without the ramps, she feels ‘like a prisoner‘ in her own home.
Mr Evans added: “I’m concerned my wife needs some quality of life, because her mobility is only getting worse.
“It’s frustrating.”
Isle of Wight Council, which owns the embankment, was initially alerted in June 2021 about the cracks in the embankment before the landslip occurred.
The grandparents of two were then given two different start dates for reconstruction work, both of which were subsequently cancelled.
In November 2022 their boundaries were pushed again, with the fencing surrounding the bungalow was teetering off the edge of the drop.
After nine days it has fallen and smashed into the road below along with four meters of the cliff edge.
The anxious couple have ben waiting for nearly two years since the landslip to get their home fixed which is only predicted to take eight to ten weeks.
With upcoming bad weather warnings which could affect the embankment Mr Evans in concerned him and his wife could be crushed.
The pensioners moved to across the Solent from ten years ago but have now have been left in limbo due to the continually delayed repairs.
Mr Evans continued: “It’s a little man trying to take on the big guy and nothing seems to be done.”
“We moved to the island ten years ago for a better life, but now it’s knackered.”
The Sun has reached out to the Isle of Wight Council for a comment.
