THE Joy's Green-Ruardean road has been closed while workmen start to tackle the massive landslip that has been building up for the past 18 months.
The closure of the road has upset some local people who use the road because they were not notified.
And John Hamer, whose garden and cottage are directly in line with the tons of moving soil, trees and rocks, says he believes county highway chiefs may have left it too late.
It had rained heavily in the last two weeks, with more earlier this week, but one of the reasons the problem had been left so long was because workmen needed dry conditions to get heavy plant on the land.
"There was never any problem before they dug out a public footpath at the top," said Mr Hamer.
"What people don't realise is that there's mining at the top, with four or five ways into it and the whole area tunnelled under – water has to find its way out somewhere."
Temporary traffic lights to control single-file traffic around the landslip, which had spread more than half way across the road, had led to at least one accident, while the generators used to power them were a noise nuisance.
"Another worry is the ashman," said Mr Hamer. "They didn't call last week and they haven't been this week yet. Nobody has told us when they will come.
He says he was also not notified about the road closure although it was now possible for him to get out round the obstruction.