A HEAVILY subsided section of a road in Flackwell Heath has been closed, sparking fears that parts of the ground in the area are unsafe.

After continued complaints to local authorities, a section of Carrington Avenue, off Chapel Road, has been closed after a council worker performed a spot-check this afternoon.

The Neighbourhood watch co-ordinator for the road, Anne Moody, said: “The man who came out to inspect the road actually activated people to come and close the road off before he even got out of his van after seeing how bad it was.”

“It has been going on for a long time, we have all been sending messages but it has taken them ages to actually do something.”

Residents say the road has slowly been getting worse for the last 18-months and it is now becoming quite concerning.

Mrs Moody said: “We have been pushed off a bit, all the people at the roads department were very nice, but we never got anywhere.

“But it looks like everybody has got their act together and are actually going to do something.”

“It is a bit concerning, the road has dropped, there are cracks in it and it even looks like it’s going into the pavement now.”

Residents told the BFP they believe that after inspecting and closing the road, boreholes will now be dug to see how deep the ground is below the surface.

The gradual dropping of the road has been a worry for numerous residents with one couple saying they have been driving the long way around to their house rather than risk going over the dip.

Robin Gardner said: “I think it is unsafe, who knows what is underneath it, one day somebody could be driving along or walking and go down there.

“It is all very worrying especially after what happened recently in Walters Ash.”

In a letter sent to the Gardner’s in October last year, Transport for Bucks said: “We are aware of the stability problems on the estate.

“In the summer we excavated another section of the road that was suffering the same problem. We did expect to find a large void. What we found was that the base had just sunk.

“The area was land filled before the building of the houses so there are many spots that are soft. At some stage we will inevitably have to raise the road up to level.

“At this time it is being monitored until work is necessary for safety.”

Residents are now hoping work will begin quickly on the section of the road.

Earlier this year a sinkhole opened up in Walters Ash swallowing a car.

Whilst the reason for the subsidence is not currently clear the previous incident has raised resident’s concerns further.