'Mystery' hole closes road

The hole, which is around three metre square and 1.4m deep, first appeared in Fort Road, Newhaven, on Monday last week.

Town Clerk Ian Everest said: 'One resident phoned the police who got in touch with the Highways Agency.

'A local resident stayed there for about two hours directing traffic because it is right in the middle of the road.'

The hole was barricaded off that evening and filled in the following day.

However, on Thursday May 15 the hole opened up again and the road has been closed ever since.

A spokesman for the county council said because of the size of the hole it would have to be filled in with concrete, rather than the usual stone.

This means it will take a longer time to set and the road will be closed for the entire bank holiday.

It is set to re-open on Tuesday.

He said: 'At present we do not know what has caused it to open up but we are investigating further.'

Official diversions are in place which direct traffic up Geneva Road, Hillcrest Road, Bay Vue Road, Western Road and Northdown Road.

Western Road and Northdown Road have been made one-way to deal with the volume of traffic.

But businesses near to the hole said the diversions have been a problem for them, especially those dependent on coaches and lorries.

Sarah Roberts from Artex Rawlplug Ltd, Artex Avenue said: 'They have diverted it from South Road, up into Western Road and they're supposed to go up Western Road and down Gibbon Road, all round the houses.

'For an articulated lorry it's an absolute nightmare going that way.'

Staff at Newhaven Fort said coaches were also unable to get through.

Much of the traffic has taken its own diversion through the new buildings at The Cape on the riverside.

PC Matt Holt said they had received a lot of calls from residents about the hole and had passed the complaints onto ESCC.