Repairs to a sinkhole in Sudbury – which closed a main road for 12 days – have failed, with the road now set to be closed for another two weeks.

Sudbury Mercury: The sinkhole that sprung up in Newton Road, Sudbury, last month.The sinkhole that sprung up in Newton Road, Sudbury, last month.

The lengthy extended closure has been labelled “pathetic” by Sudbury Town Councillor Jack Owen, who said the road closure has already caused “chaos” across the town.

The sinkhole opened up on Newton Road, near to Cats Lane, on January 20, after a burst water main washed away the chalky soil underneath the busy road.

The water main was quickly fixed and Anglian Water set about reinstating the road surface. The road then reopened on Wednesday, February 1. However, any joy from motorists was short lived, with cracks quickly appearing in the freshly laid surface. The road then closed of Thursday.

On Friday, Anglian Water announced the works to repair the road will start on Monday, February 6, will not complete until February 17.

Mr Owen said: “I am really disappointed. They should be working 24/7 through the night to get this fixed, but they are not even working the weekend.

“It snarls up every other road into Sudbury. You can’t have a main road closed without it causing problems.

“I understand things do not always go as planned, but when they don’t, they should be working every shift pattern they can to get it sorted.”

He added: “It is an issue for our businesses as well, as people are not going to bother coming here if the traffic is going to be bad – they will probably go to Bury or Colchester instead.

A spokeswoman for Anglian Water said: “Our teams repaired a burst water main on Newton Road, in Sudbury. After we finished resurfacing the road yesterday (Wednesday), road users notified us of a slip dip in the road. To make sure our work is of a high standard, we have closed the road today (Thursday) to put this right. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this causes and are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.”

Anglian Water said they will foot the bill for the repair and apologised for the original reinstatement not meeting their standards.

Engineers are set to try a different construction method, using foam concrete in a bid to ensure the road surface does not sink again.