On Friday, 16th January, 1 month from the 1-year anniversary of what was called the Godstone Sinkhole and was quickly reclassified as a road collapse, Godstone residents assembled once again, this time in more numbers at the request of local MP Claire Coutinho, in an effort to gain a further update from Surrey County Council Highways and SES Water.

Attended by 100s of residents, Cllr Matt Furniss from SCC Highways spoke first, updating all on the ground checks and identifying 3 non-interconnecting sand tunnel systems running beneath that part ofGodstone although it was indicated at the end of last year that it was the aim of SCC to complete works, it has gone behind yet again with the further checking of the ground stability with Cllr Furniss stating that 600 metric tonnes of Compacting grout had been pumped up to 3 stories underground in an effort to make the surface stable and upon successful completion of the third treatment,  would be handed over to the utility companies to commence working.

Cllr Furniss went on to clearly state that it was unclear how the collapse occurred, something that was contradicted by SES water Jenny Rhodes, who stated that the condition of the main had been tested in a lab and published, and they believe the leak was caused by the presence of the sand mines in the area causing the main to flex and break as it lost support.

Residents challenged this contradiction and added that it was
also caused by the vibration of HGVs that use the route, which was
denied by Cllr Furniss from SCC Highways.

MP Claire Coutinho stepped in and has suggested that a further discussion on traffic calming should be had, with ideas tabled and explored to see what could be done.

The MP went on to say that communications between all parties to the residents had been poor, with quite often little or no information
given or informed where to find it online.

MP Claire Courtinho, with pressure from the residents on the SES water construction team were able to extrapolate a time scale of 6 weeks to reinstate the water main after handover from SCC highways takes place.

The residents over all were angry at the situation, still lacking
information,  timescale questions on Council tax rebates were
raised yet again and frankly passed off by TDC representative Cllr
Mike Crome to SCC as they take the bigger precept of the council tax.

Claire Coutinho MP spoke briefly with our reporter, Neil Munday, at the conclusion of the meeting.
Claire Coutinho – MP for East Surrey.

The BBC were also in attendance at the meeting, where Mark Carter got to talk with Peter O’Connell, rector of St Nicholas Church, Godstone.

© BBC