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Gower sinkhole: Road opens after repairs

Brian Williams The road blocked offBrian Williams
The council said the sinkhole had been caused by surface water running onto the road from farmland

A main road has reopened after a sinkhole the "width of three houses" was repaired.

South Gower Road in Swansea was closed on 1 October after the sinkhole was found and deemed to be at "risk of imminent collapse".

Swansea council closed the A4118 between Penmaen and the turn-off to Oxwich for emergency repairs.

The authority said the sinkhole had been caused by surface water running onto the road from farmland.

In a statement the council said this was complicated by the "presence of voids in the rock beneath the road".

Sinkholes are often caused by an abnormal amount of water seeping into the ground, but they are difficult to predict

Repairs included the creation of a new drainage system to help direct water away from the road surface to stop it happening again, the statement reads.

Cabinet Member for Environment Enhancement and Infrastructure Management Mark Thomas said: "Early fears that the subsidence has been caused by the large voids deep in the ground were fortunately not the case.

"However, running water had created some smaller voids much nearer the road surface and it was this issue that had caused the problem."

He added: "I'd like to thank motorists for the patience they have shown while we have completed these works and also thank our highways staff for the hard work and effort put in to get the road open again."