At the November meeting of Ramsey Town Commission board members agreed to hold a special meeting to consider the findings from a report into the subsidence in Station Road car park. The area of the car park adjacent to Ramsey Fire Station has deteriorated over the years with an increasing number of depressions forming in the surface. Previous remedial work resulted in only temporary improvement and due to the continuing deterioration of what is the most heavily trafficked section of the car park, the Commission took the decision to close off the damaged area with barriers and appoint consultants AW Associates to conduct a ground penetrating radar survey to establish the extent and cause of the subsidence. Findings from the survey, conducted in October 2010, showed a number of structures to be buried beneath the affected area including, at one time, a saw mill and, more latterly, substantial properties with basements. The survey concluded that the cause of the subsidence was inadequate filling of the basement areas and surrounding land when the buildings were demolished. The report also revealed the affected surface area extended to some 25 x 22 metres and up to three metres in depth. A number of options have been discussed with AW Associates in association with the Commission’s technical officer. These include full removal of all affected areas of fill (amounting to some 1600 cubic metres) and replacement with crushed compacted fill in layers with a macadam surface; partial removal and replacement fill and sacrificing part of the car park to landscaping to reduce costs, or specialist piling of the filled area and covering with a reinforced slab. It is against this background that at the special meeting of the board members will affirm that given the failure of previous interim measures to contain the damage and the extent to which the subsidence has developed the Commission is committed to finding a permanent value for money solution that will return the area – be it in part or in total – to full use as car parking space. Ends