Work is expected to start soon on filling in a sink-hole which appeared in Canynge Square gardens on Christmas Day three years ago.
A large tree collapsed into the hole after its roots penetrated through the roof of a vault, the existence of which was unknown.
The cost of the repair work, originally put at £50,000 by Bristol City Council officials, has risen to £150,000 because of inflation and changes in the work specification. Residents of Canynge Square have fund-raised a third of the total amount.
The councillors for Clifton Ward Paula O‘Rourke and Katy Grant, both from the Green Party, have explained the reasons for the delay in repair work starting: “First, the council had to try to establish ownership of the vault as repair is costly, and it could be covered by a householder’s insurance. That had to be explored but in the end it turned out that the vault wasn’t on anybody’s deeds.
“Then the trees had to be removed. This was another challenge as it wasn’t safe to put a human into the sink hole, and getting heavy industrial plant into the square (when the highway itself was thought to be in danger of collapse) was difficult. But this was achieved in 2021.
“This then allowed a full assessment to be done, which itself was costly. A specialist firm used sonar equipment to do an analysis of the ground and this revealed other vaults. Their solution is to use liquid concrete, but this has to be done with care and at high cost.”
Following meetings with council officials the councillors said: “We can now confirm that work to repair it will begin soon in the New Year.”