A sinkhole has emerged outside Worcester College. It was spotted by a Cherwell reporter on the morning of the 6th April.
Andrew Burchett, Oxford County Council’s Senior Technician, noted that, “the hole is immediately over the foul sewer belonging to Thames Water.”
The foul sewer transports contaminated wastewater to local sewage treatment works. No damage has been reported to this system. Burchett stated, “after extensive investigation with a CCTV camera put in to the sewer, Thames Water asserted that there was no damage to their sewer and that no material had been washed in to the sewer.”
The reason for the sinkhole’s appearance remains unknown at present time. Paul Smith, Media Manager at Oxfordshire County Council, stated that, “an exact cause for the problem at Walton Street has yet to be determined.”
He went on, “Work will commence tomorrow to remove loose material, carry out further investigations and backfill with stone to enable the road to be reconstructed and open to traffic as soon as we can. It is anticipated that the work will take about two days but until engineers begin to excavate it is not possible to predict exactly how long it will take.”
Bennett remains optimistic that an explanation can be found shortly. He remarked, “Clearly around a tonne of soil has disappeared so we hope that our excavations will reveal the cause of the collapse.”
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Worcester College’s Domestic Bursar, Tim Lightfoot, clarified that the road repair “does not involve the College” and “is being dealt with by Oxfordshire Highways Authority in conjunction with the relevant utilities companies.”
The sinkhole’s appearance has drawn mixed reactions from Oxford’s student body. A Worcester College student stated, “Why am I paying so much money to go to a college with a sinkhole outside?”
Meanwhile, a Christ Church student remarked, “I suspect we’ll be getting an extra flock of tourists now that Worcester’s exterior has attained a new beauty spot.”
