Families set to return home after evacuation | UK News

“Almost all” residents affected by a sinkhole in Surrey are set to return home, a local authority has said.

Lloyd Allen, Surrey County Council’s infrastructure team manager, said those impacted by the road collapse in Godstone High Street could return to their homes this weekend.

But he warned this depended on a “couple of issues” still under investigation, such as whether water quality was up to the right standard.

Mr Allen said the local authority was still trying to establish what caused the collapse in February.

He said a GPR survey, which involves sending radar pulses through the ground, had detected “quite a lot of anomalies” in the area.

“We are calling them anomalies at the moment because until we investigate further, we don’t actually know what they are,” he said.

Mr Allen suggested they could be a “series of tunnels under the road”, “deep sewers”, or “potentially soakways from properties”.

He said the council would continue its investigations over the coming weeks to determine what is happening underground.

But he warned the work, involving specialist engineers and digging boreholes, could take “several months”.

Tandridge District Council (TDC), which is leading the operation, said it was confident all but four of the 30 evacuated households could return safely.

All businesses, except one directly impacted by the collapse, are open for business as usual, the council added.

“It is great news that almost all households are now able to return home,” said TDC leader Catherine Sayer.

“This has been a difficult and stressful time.”

She urged people to visit Godstone as it was “very much open for business”.

Matt Furniss, from Surrey County Council, said foam concrete had been used to “temporarily fill the hole to stabilise the area and ensure it doesn’t get any bigger”.

He said work was ongoing to determine “how best to permanently repair the area so it doesn’t reoccur”.

The cabinet member for highways, transport, and economic growth thanked residents for their patience as the local authority dealt with the “complex” and “unprecedented” incident.

Authorities declared a major incident after the ground opened up on Godstone High Street on 17 February, with police telling people living in William Way to “get out as quickly as possible” at the time.

Some residents were previously told it could be up to a year before they could go home, while six households returned a few days after the incident.

TDC allocated up to £800,000 for temporary accommodation for up to 12 months, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.