A specialist site investigation company who visited the Recreation Ground on Tuesday say a sink hole there requires further investigation.
They say there initial view is it was possible, given the shape of the hole, that it is the site of an old well.
A more technical team will be out on Friday morning to see if this is the case and to discuss a course of action.
The Parish Council strongly advises people to steer clear of the area until further notice
Sink Hole
The Parish Council closed access to the Recreation Ground – including the play areas – on Tuesday after being informed by members of the public had formed on one part of the ground on Monday evening.
The specialist team from Epping was asked to look into the significance of the hole, which measures about 45cm wide and 30cm deep and is located near a football goal on the Rec.
The hole has now been temporarily filled with sand.
This Public Open Space will remain closed for public use until it is declared safe.
We thank you for your understanding in this matter and apologise for the inconvenience this may cause.
2 thoughts on “Sink Hole Update”
Richard Hope BEng, CEng, MICE
I have been interested to see what steps are being taken to investigate what has been described as a ‘sink hole’ in the Recreation Ground.
As far as I am aware sink holes are not encountered in the Stansted area and in the years I have worked in the area Inhave not heard of such.
I have however encountered many shallow excavations where the gravelly soil has been won for fill material and back filled with various waste materials.
Where a sink hole is suspected following a Localised depression in the surface the procedure would be to carry out boreholes to determine its depth and lateral extent in order to establish suitable measures to stabilise.
In this case, I understand that the Parish Council has appointed a contractor to carry out a survey using ground penetrating radar.
This is a system for mapping suspected sink holes and in most soils can only detect variations in the ground down to a few feet.
In my opinion the investigation should concentrate on investigating the nature and dimensions of the existing feature. It will most likely turn out to be an old excavation as mentioned above, hence at this time it is a waste of money carrying out a mapping exercise to establish the presence or otherwise of sinkholes where there is no indication of anything but small man made excavations.
Richard Hope 57 Recreation Ground
Council Administrator
Thank you, Richard for response.
We have taken professional advice of ground surveyors, HESI, to commission a “deep ground” radar penetrating survey at the Recreation Ground by a second company, Laser Surveys.
Information from the radar survey will allow the Parish Council to understand the scale of the problem and course of action needed to reopen the Recreation Ground.
HESI has concerns in light of their initial survey of the area near the sink hole that heavy rain proceeding the Coronation Event on Sunday, May 7 along with the activities on the day itself may have affected the stability of the ground at the Rec.
We will learn whether this is just a minor problem in a couple of weeks from now when the survey results are revealed.
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