GIANT steel screws are being driven into the embankment at Cannop to hold the road securely into the underlying bedrock.

It is part of an £850,000 scheme by Gloucestershire County Council to stop the land slipping on the stretch of the B4234 between Cannop and Parkend, known locally as New Road.

So far the drainage system throughout the site has been completely rebuilt to move all of the ground water away from the slip area.

The drainage area alongside the road has been extended by 20m so it is now 200m in length, making the area better prepared to cope in bad weather.

Drilling work began last month to prepare the embankment for 141 giant steel screws known as ‘ground anchors’ and this will stop the road from slipping down the embankment in the future.

The giant screws will be secured into the ground with concrete anchor blocks, which act as big washers. These are being specially cast and brought over from Ireland.

Cllr Vernon Smith (Con, Tewkesbury East), the council’s Cabinet member for highways, said: “These are really important repairs to protect the road for the future. I’m delighted to say that the work carried out so far has been done successfully, on time and on budget; and we’re on target to complete the work in October.”

Cllr Richard Leppington (UKIP), Blakeney and Bream, said: “This is an amazing piece of construction work. How­ever, I look forward to  the road reopening, as residents have been diverted around the closure since the work began in May.”

Traffic is being diverted via Speech House Road. The road is expected to reopen at the end of October.