Surrey sinkhole celebrates its first birthday: Families have been evacuated, shops shut and village ruined but there is still no sign of 60ft chasm being fixed

It’s been 365 days since a 20 meter long hole was dug in Surrey High Street.

But when you visit the scene today, little has changed.

Construction work continues, the road is still closed and the municipality still does not confirm when the road will be completed.

‘The day before it happened, I was walking along the road with my daughter,’ says 87-year-old Eric Eamon, who lives in a house just a few meters above the road where the sinkhole opened.

‘I turned to him and told him that the cars sounded different as they drove down the road. The next day, the sinkhole occurred.

‘I realized they were driving on a completely empty road.’

Mr Eamon was also aware of the possible cause of the sinkholes with the authorities; He remembers playing in the Victorian sand mines beneath the sleepy village of Godstone as a child.

‘When I was 10 years old, we used to play in the mines on a rainy day. All the kids would buy a candle from the shop and play hide and seek!’

Eric Eamon, 87, said the day before the pit was opened, he noticed that cars passing over it were making different noises. ‘I realized they were driving on an empty road,’ he recalled

Godstone High Street remains closed, businesses and locals told the Mail this week they were fed up and struggling after the once busy road was closed for twelve months

Like many who live along the road, he has never evacuated and says he will never leave his home, despite fears that there may be up to 125 similar loopholes beneath the Godstone.

A 20 meter long and 6 meter wide hole opened up in Godstone High Street on the night of February 17 last year, quickly filling with water from a burst pipe and forcing 30 residents to flee their homes.

Residents were initially told repairs would take three to six months. But this week many people told the Daily Mail they had no idea when the roads would actually reopen.

Nor did anyone say they had been offered any compensation for the inconvenience caused by 12 months of continuous construction work or the potential impact of the dangerous sinkhole on businesses or house prices.

Shane Fry has a garage in Godstone High Street. Now that the road is closed, his business has been struggling for over a year since the customers he was getting in broken down vehicles coming off the highway have stopped completely.

‘We were offered no compensation, none at all,’ he says.

‘We’re lucky the road is closed because they’ve given us a break from business rates – but that works out to around £200 a month, which is nothing when you’ve got a workforce and a car park to rent.’

‘It was a long and tedious process,’ he adds.

Shane Fry has a garage next to the sinkhole. Turnover is still down by 10-15 percent as there are no more customers coming from the M25

Alison Cullinan, 58, owns The Hare & Hounds in Godstone. Those who have been there for 21 years rely on locals as things were tough in the year after the sinkhole

Another 125 holes in a network of Victorian sand mines beneath the village have been filled, the council said

Although the sinkhole was filled, the municipality did not give a date for the completion of the work.

‘The first months were the hardest, normality was completely gone. But even now our turnover is still 10-15 percent low and there is no end in sight.’

Surrey County Council said more mining tunnels continue to be discovered, prolonging the village’s recovery process.

A pub owner in the village also lost profits when a pothole opened up down the road.

Alison Cullinan, 58, owns The Hare & Hounds in Godstone. The pub has been there for 21 years and they say they are lucky to be able to rely on regulars over the past year or they would have closed.

“The rug has been taken out from under our feet,” Ms Cullinan told the Mail.

‘We’re an independent pub, not a brewery, and we rent it out, so it’s been really difficult.

‘And it’s scary that we don’t know what’s going to happen or when it’s going to end; The last I heard was in June.

‘We have not been given any compensation and there is nothing to suggest this will not happen again. “Our kids grew up here and we’ve been here for decades, so we don’t want to move, but it’s definitely scary,” he adds.

Aerial view of the concreted sinkhole shows its proximity to residential properties that have been living with it on their doorstep for more than a year

One of the corner shops across from the sinkhole is completely derelict. Business rates have been given to businesses in the area where the road is closed, but for many this is not enough

Other businesses in the village were already struggling under Labour’s tax raids. The trough in an already difficult economic environment has caused many people to drift further into the abyss without any support.

Although the hole itself has been filled in, the area around it has been sealed off and the surrounding road remains closed.

More than £2.3 million has been spent so far to repair the damage, with the estimated total cost expected to be at least £3 million.

Hundreds of residents attended a council meeting organized by local MP Claire Coutinho last month, but no clear information was available as they had not yet been given a clear end date.

In a statement, Surrey County Council said: ‘Highways officers continue to deal with the major road collapse that occurred suddenly overnight on Godstone High Street in Surrey on 17 February 2025.’

After the ground was cleared and a major incident was declared, collapsed roads and sidewalks were made safe and utility infrastructure was temporarily repaired, allowing residents to return to their homes and pedestrians to use the area.

‘But the discovery of a massive 19th-century underground mine network in June 2025 has meant that the final rebuilding of the High Street has yet to begin.

residents and business owners at a public meeting in February last year. A month ago the council and local MPs attended another public meeting, but many were left with no clearer idea of ​​the future

The sinkhole was 20 meters long and 6 meters wide. The entire network of pits under the village has spent more than 667 tonnes of mortar to fill so far

‘Filling and stabilizing the mine network remains the focus of operations at the site; Over 667 tonnes of mortar is being pumped to depths of up to 15 meters below ground level in 125 holes to stabilize the area, and more mine tunnels continue to be discovered.’

Matt Furniss, Surrey County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Economic Growth, said: ‘This remains a highly complex incident with teams on the ground dealing with an evolving situation, making this matter much more than just repairing a road.

‘Our teams are working with specialist geotechnical contractors to locate, investigate, fill and stabilize a large 19th-century underground mine network with limited visibility, to ensure the long-term stability of the area and fundamentally the safety of local residents and people traveling through the area, before rebuilding and reopening the road.

‘Therefore, these stabilization works will need to continue in the coming weeks, after which the burst water pipes can be replaced with SES Water and the final reconstruction of the roads and pavements can begin.

‘We greatly understand the disruption experienced by some residents and businesses in Godstone and thank them for their patience.

‘We are working hard to reopen the road in the spring but we need to make absolutely sure the area is safe and stable before we can do this for the benefit of everyone.’