Hole lot of chaos for residents

RESIDENTS are up in arms over this hole in the road at Dorset Avenue, High Crompton

AN unexplained hole in the road is causing chaos for High Crompton home-owners.

Council workmen started digging the hole in Dorset Avenue two weeks ago, telling residents they would be there for only a day.

A fortnight later, no work has been done and the road is still closed at its junction with Surrey Avenue.

Kenneth Freeman (79), of Dorset Avenue, has severe mobility problems caused by a spinal injury 20 years ago.

He said: “I have had to walk the long way round to get to the shops for the past two weeks and it is a real struggle for me.

“Nobody has told us what’s going on so we don’t know how long our street is going to be in a mess like this.

“It is extremely annoying. We were told it would be one day which turned out to be untrue.

“There are detours in place but cars are still coming down the street and having to turn round and go back because they can’t get past the hole.

“One of my neighbours has to park in someone else’s driveway because he can’t get to his own and it’s just chaos at the moment.”

A spokesperson from United Utilities said: “Our engineers will be carrying out a repair to a collapsed sewer at Dorset Avenue from Monday.

“A crack recently appeared in the road and the council dug a hole to investigate the cause. Once it became clear that this was a sewer issue we were contacted.

“Work to repair the sewer and fill in the hole should take a week. We’d like to thank local residents in advance for their patience while the repair is carried out.”

Councillor Mark Alcock, cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, said: “A council officer has been sent up to the site to look at the problem and investigate what is going on. We will be chasing United Utilities up to get the work finished as soon as possible.”