Ripon sinkhole: Repair works starts on site

Engineers are removing debris from the sinkhole before filling it with concrete

Work has begun on repairing a large sinkhole which caused 12 homes to be evacuated when it opened up.

The 20m (66ft) by 10m (33ft) hole, which is about 9m (30ft) deep, appeared in Magdalen's Road in Ripon on 9 November.

No-one was injured but the street's sewage system fell into the ground and two gardens caved in.

Engineers are now replacing the damaged sewage system and will start on filling in the hole by the end of the week.

Tom Underwood from Yorkshire Water said they were replacing the piping and reconnecting the street to the main sewage pipes.

"That will mean that the toilets will flush as normal and hopefully that may encourage the residents who moved out to move back into their homes before Christmas," he said.

Further work has started on filling in the hole.

Alan Milburn, from Subsidence Management Services, said the first job was removing all the vegetation and debris which fell into the whole.

"We're getting it down to as clean a base as we can," he said.

"Then we are preparing to put the first stage of a plug of concrete into the natural ground."

Work is expected to be completed sometime in January.

Twelve homes were affected by the sinkhole which opened up in a back garden