A sinkhole in an elderly woman’s garden has been waiting repairs since last year. 

The hole first appeared in the back garden of a 91-year-old woman on Rose Drive in Chesham in December last year.

Tina Fletcher has tried to help her elderly resident to sort out the approx. 5 sq.ft sinkhole since it opened up near the footpath, but she has hit a wall each time.

The elderly woman has even travelled to the council offices in person. 

During the six months, the sinkhole “appears to be bigger and pathway sunk and cracked even more,” Tina said in a post on OurChesham Facebook group.

Bucks Free Press: The sinkhole on Rose Drive The sinkhole on Rose Drive (Image: Tina Fletcher)

“My neighbour is very upset about the situation. She’s always taken pride in her garden, but it’s now looking unkept and neglected, although we did strim the lawn as the hole had overgrown with grass, which made it even more dangerous,” Tina told the Free Press.

The sinkhole could be “very dangerous” if a child or anyone else fell in, she warned.

After she alerted Buckinghamshire Council to the sinkhole in December last year, the fire service put up safety barriers around it.

A council investigator then told her they couldn’t fill the whole themselves but someone accredited has to carry out the work, Tina claimed.

After assessing the sinkhole, a technician told Tina he would have to repair both the lawn and the public footpath, but he wasn’t “prepared to carry out work on the public footpath,” Tina said.

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She said: “We really feel that this is the council’s responsibility, if they make the hole safe underneath the pavement, then we could get somebody credited to put right the hole on her lawn, maybe.”

Buckinghamshire Council’s cabinet member for transport councillor Steven Broadbent said: “The council has visited this site and has confirmed the sinkhole has originated on private land and is now unfortunately impacting on the surrounding footway.

“We have therefore placed barriers around the site to make the pavement safe and have offered advice to the resident about how to remedy the issue.”

“Of course, we will be sensitive to the fact that this resident is elderly and want to work with her in a supportive way to resolve this.”

Tina said her neighbour’s housing insurance said in December she wasn’t covered for sinkholes, urging her to contact the council instead.