'Specialist equipment' needed to get to bottom of New Mills sinkhole

Repairs are yet to begin on a sinkhole that engulfed a main road in New Mills last month, according to a local councillor.

Anne Clarke, who represents New Mills and Hayfield, says that despite digging down by almost three metres, United Utilities still haven’t identified why the crater opened up on July 29. 

Instead, they’re waiting for specialist equipment to arrive to make it safe to excavate even deeper into Hayfield Road. 

“The work is complicated by other apparatus such as a gas main and the water pipe to Stockport,” said Clarke in a post on Facebook. 

“There is no timescale until the nature of the problem is identified but there should be much more clarity in the next few days. 

“The road closure dates are part of an admin process as emergency road closures are issued in three-week blocks. 

“I have managed to glean this information from Highways but am disappointed that there hasn't been more communication for residents from United Utilities about their ongoing work at the site.” 

Residents have complained about being left in the dark by United Utilities, whose communication they say has been limited over the past fortnight. 

As well as Hayfield Road being closed to traffic and surrounding streets being accessible only by residents and visitors, New Mills was beset by more infrastructure woes at the weekend when Union Road was cut off due to a burst water main. 

That issue remains unresolved, too, with United Utilities saying that are at the ‘planning in the work’ stage.