Dudley residents fear for their homes after yet another hole appears in 'unsafe' road

Cinder Road in Gornalwood was closed off to traffic on Monday after a hole was reported to have appeared, causing diversions to traffic heading into Gornalwood from Pensnett and Kingswinford.

It is the latest in a series of holes to have appeared on the road, following a burst water pipe in January which left gallons of water flooding across the road.

A resident living nearby, who didn't want to be named, said there had been a sinkhole on the road originally and said she felt the problem had not been properly resolved.

She said: "There was originally a sinkhole there, for which the police were called, and it was filled in and tarmac put over the top, but this hole appeared over the weekend and has been the problem since.

"We called the council about it and also South Staffordshire Water, who wouldn't come out because there was no water coming out, and after I called the council, they came out and put some tar over it.

"I'm very worried about it being in front of my house as I worry about the foundations of all our houses, because the original hole was very deep, so I'd like to see more action as I work from home and the road is very dangerous."

Other residents said the road had a lot of traffic, particularly heavy goods lorries, running up and down it and the road was in poor condition as a result.

One resident, who didn't want to be named, said the road had been closed several times due to the holes and said that while he was enjoying the relative peace, he wanted the road repaired as he said he felt it was unsafe.

He said: "I do think it's a new problem from an existing issue and I think the heavier loads coming down do cause the road to wear out, particularly with the new sites being built on down the road.

"You feel the windows shake when you hear the lorries go past and I think there needs to be more work done as it didn't feel like the work to repair the pipe fixed the problem.

"I think we have a lot of infrastructure that is very old around here and there's no easy solution, but I'd be prepared to see traffic management coming in as we need to stop having to repair the roads."

Another resident living further down the road on Stallings Lane said he had seen 10 weeks of temporary traffic lights while works continued on the road, describing it as a road in danger of collapse.

Dudley Council, South Staffs Water and Severn Trent have been contacted for comment.