It’s 365 days and counting since a 20 metre-long sinkhole opened up on a Surrey High Street.
Yet when you visit the scene today, little has changed.
Construction work is ongoing, the road is still closed – and the council still won’t confirm when it will be finished.
‘The day before it happened, I was walking down the road with my daughter,’ says Eric Eamon, 87, who lives in a house just metres along the same road the sinkhole opened up on.
‘I turned to her and said that the cars sounded different going over the road. The next day, the sinkhole happened.
‘I realised they must have been driving over a completely hollow road.’
Mr Eamon also knew the likely cause of the sinkholes before authorities too – he recalls playing in the Victorian sand mines woven beneath the quiet village of Godstone as a child.
‘When I was around 10, on a wet day we used to play in the mines. All the children would get a candle from the shop and play hide and seek!’
Pictured: The Surrey sinkhole one year on. The road remains closed and construction is ongoing
Eric Eamon, 87, said the day before the sinkhole opened, he noticed cars sounded different going over it. ‘I realised they must have been driving over a hollow road,’ he recalled
Godstone High Street remains closed, as businesses and locals told the Mail this week they were fed up and struggling after twelve months of the once-busy road being shut
Like many residents along the road, he never evacuated and says he won’t ever leave his home, despite fears now that there could be up to 125 similar cavity holes beneath Godstone.
On the night of February 17 last year, a 20-metre-long and six-metre-wide sinkhole opened on Godstone High Street, quickly filling with water from a burst pipe and forcing 30 residents out their homes.
Residents were initially told the repairs would take three to six months. But this week many told the Daily Mail they have no idea when the roads will actually reopen.
Nor did any say they had been offered any compensation for the inconvenience of constant building work for 12 months, or the likely impact the hazardous sinkhole would have on their businesses – or house prices.
Shane Fry owns a garage on Godstone High Street. Now that the road has shut, his business has been struggling for over a year since the clients he used to get with broken down vehicles coming off the motorway have stopped entirely.
‘We’ve been offered no compensation, none,’ he says.
‘We’re lucky that we’re inside the road closure, because they’ve given us a break from business rates – but that’s the equivalent of about £200 a month, which is nothing when you’ve got a workforce and a car park to rent.’
‘It’s been a long-winded and tedious process,’ he adds.
Shane Fry owns a garage next to the sinkhole. His turnover is still down 10-15 per cent, as he gets no customers from recoveries off the M25 anymore
Alison Cullinan, 58, owns The Hare & Hounds in Godstone. Having been there for 21 years, they rely on locals, as business has been tough the year after the sinkhole
The council said it is filling in 125 other holes in the network of Victorian sand mines beneath the village
Although the sinkhole is now filled, the council has not given a date for completion of the works
‘The first months were the hardest, normality was completely gone. But our turnover is still down 10-15 per cent even now, and there’s no end in sight.’
Surrey County Council said that more mine tunnels continue to be discovered, prolonging the village’s recovery.
One pub owner in the village had their profits plummet too when the sinkhole opened up down the road.
Alison Cullinan, 58, owns The Hare & Hounds in Godstone. The pub has been there for 21 years, and say they are fortunate to be able to rely on regulars over the last year – otherwise they would have shut.
‘It’s taken the rug from beneath our feet,’ Ms Cullinan told the Mail.
‘We’re an independent pub, not a brewery, and we lease this place so it’s been really tough.
‘And it’s terrifying that we just don’t know what’s going to happen or when it will end – the last I heard was June.
‘We’ve been given no compensation and there’s nothing to say it won’t happen again. Our children grew up here and we’ve been here for decades so don’t want to move, but it is definitely scary,’ she adds.
An aerial view of the concreted sinkhole shows its proximity to resident properties, which have lived with it on their doorstep for over a year
One corner shop opposite the sinkhole is completely derelict. Businesses inside the road closure have been given a break from business rates, but for many it is not enough
Other businesses in the village had already been struggling under Labour’s tax raids. A sinkhole in an already difficult economic climate sent many plunging further into the abyss, with no support.
Although the sinkhole itself has been filled over, it remains gated off and the surrounding road shut off.
More than £2.3million has been spent repairing the damage so far and the estimated overall cost is expected to be at least £3million.
Hundreds of residents attended a council meeting organised by local MP Claire Coutinho last month, but were left no clearer as they were still not given a firm end date in sight.
Surrey County Council said in a statement: ‘Highways Officers are continuing to tackle the large road collapse that appeared suddenly overnight on Godstone High Street in Surrey, on February 17, 2025.’
Following the ground opening up and a major incident being declared, the collapsed road and pavements were made safe, and infrastructure for utility services was temporarily repaired, allowing residents to return home and pedestrians to use the area.
‘However, the discovery of a large, 19th-century underground mine network in June 2025 has meant the final reconstruction of the High Street has not yet been able to get underway.
Residents and business owners at a public meeting in February last year. One month ago, the council and local MP attended another public meeting, but many were left feeling no clearer about the future
The sinkhole was 20-metres-long and six-metres wide. The entire network of holes beneath the village has so far taken over 667 tonnes of grout to fill
‘Filling and stabilising the mine network remains the focus of operations on site with over 667 tonnes of grout being pumped in 125 holes to depths of up to 15 metres below ground level to stabilise the area, with further mine tunnels continuing to be discovered.’
Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Economic Growth at Surrey County Council said: ‘This remains a highly complex incident with teams on site dealing with an evolving situation, making it far more than just the repair of a road.
‘Our teams are working with specialist geotechnical contractors to locate, survey, 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 travelling through the area, before we are able to re-build and re-open the road.
‘These stabilisation works will therefore need to continue over the coming weeks, after which the burst water pipes can be replaced by SES Water and the final reconstruction of the road and pavements can get underway.
‘We remain hugely sympathetic to the disruption being experienced by some residents and businesses in Godstone and thank them for their patience.
‘We are working hard to get the road open again in the Spring but need to be absolutely sure that the area is safe and stable before we do so for the benefit of everyone.’
