Gravesend businesses fear sinkhole could return amid water leak

KentOnline / KMTV

Engineers have fixed a water main which caused a sinkhole to appear in the highway, however, water appears to continue trickling on the tarmac. Bartholomew Hall reports.

Transcript

00:00When a burst water main led to this sinkhole closing one of Gravesend's busiest roads,

00:06some businesses in the area claim to have lost 50% of trade overnight.

00:11But now as water trickles through the newly laid tarmac, it appears the burst has returned,

00:16leading to fears of a further sinkhole and bringing with it more disruption.

00:21They did attend to it fast, but obviously the road had to be closed off, which down

00:27here affected us hugely because everyone avoided the area.

00:31Last week, my takings, more than half was affected. It was very, very quiet, like a ghost town down here.

00:40The void in the highway appeared here in Milton Road last Tuesday on the 6th of May,

00:45causing the entire carriageway to be cordoned off between Cumberland Avenue and Ordnance Road.

00:51After being reopened two days later on the 8th, a further investigation was carried out.

00:57Meanwhile, business owners say they've been left to pick up the cost of low footfall.

01:02In fact, you know, for the last week is nothing. So I pay for my colleagues for wages and my bills

01:08and my, you know, electric city bill as well. Everything is there, but last week we are too much struggling.

01:15For neighbours living nearby, it's the possibility of continued traffic that's worrying them.

01:20It's been an ongoing issue for years, so that part of the road has been terrible. There's always been

01:28a leak, a burst of water main there, so I think it just needs to get resolved.

01:32Well, it's a little bit concerning. It's flowing quite heavily down there

01:37and it's going into the drain, so it's not actually flooding at the moment.

01:39The thing is we're quite used to it. I mean, there have been so many works over the last few years here,

01:45so it's, you know, almost our attitude is like, oh, here's another one.

01:48Kent County Council has confirmed to us another water leak has been found since the initial sinkhole

01:54and that Southern Water is due to carry out repairs with the road cleared on Wednesday.

01:59It also said the site will be assessed regularly and any necessary work will be carried out in a planned and timely manner.

02:06So, with repairs underway, it's hoped this chapter of disruption in Gravesend can be sealed for good.

02:12Bartholomew Hall for KMTV.

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