Surrey sinkhole not getting bigger, says council

A huge sinkhole that opened in the middle of a Surrey village has stopped getting bigger, according to a council spokesperson.

The first hole appeared in Godstone late on Monday night when a water main burst, and grew to a length of 65ft (20m).

A second sinkhole appeared on Tuesday, with around 30 homes evacuated as a precaution and repairs expected to take months.

Testing inside the hole will now be carried out, Surrey County Council's cabinet member for highways Matt Furniss told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.

He said: "We're doing borehole testing, which will give us an early indication of what's below and allow us to inform the temporary works needed to stabilise the area.

"We'll be looking to completely rebuild the road.

"We don't know what's caused the water pipe to break, that's what the investigation will look into.

"What we do know is that it's currently stable, it isn't growing anymore, we think that most of the properties are currently structurally sound so residents will be able to get access to retrieve property."

He said he believed the second hole had been caused by water finding a route from the first.

The authority has declared the situation a major incident, while Tandridge District Council is opening an information centre at St Nicholas Youth Centre from 10:00 GMT.

Neighbouring Bletchingley Parish Council offered the use of its sports pavilion in Grange Meadow for evacuated residents.

Councillor Linda Baharier told BBC Radio Surrey: "It has showers, it's warm and it has cooking facilities there.

"The biggest problem was those that were only renting, because they had no insurers to talk to.

"We've been looking more long-term at people that maybe can offer a spare room while they can find somewhere else to rent."

Catherine Sayer, leader of Tandridge District Council, said the authority was helping eight households, and businesses might qualify for a reduction in rates while repairs were being carried out.

Furniss added that the county council was "looking at weeks, if not months" for repairs.

"We will have to excavate the whole area and build the road back up from the base, allow the utilities to come back in and reconnect, and then we will be able to put the road back on top of that," he said.