Residents of a street damaged by a sinkhole opened have now hailed it as “the safest road in St Albans”.

The 12m wide and 10m deep crevice opened up in the early hours of October 1 last year, leaving 52 properties without gas, electricity and water.

READ MORE: Neighbours celebrate sinkhole road reopening

Despite suffering “varying degrees of stress and inconvenience” since the event, a statement released by neighbours in Fontmell Close and Bridle Close admitted they all considered themselves “extremely lucky” that there was no loss of life, injuries or structural damage to any of their homes.

Six families were unable to return home for 14 months as their houses could not be deemed safe.

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

The road was officially reopened at the weekend

However after extensive safety surveying and 48 lorry loads of concrete, residents welcomed the return to normality with a reopening ceremony on Saturday afternoon.

Since the sinkhole opened, the streets have become two of the most tested in St Albans, a fact which residents say means they are now also two of the safest.

They also praised the efforts of the county and district councils, emergency services and utility companies in getting the road reopened as soon as possible.

Dealing with the immediate impact, St Albans City and District Council arranged shelter and found temporary accommodation for a number of displaced residents.

A temporary access road was created with a shuttle service ferrying residents between the temporary car park at the old fire station site and the end of Bridle Close. 

Before a permanent repair could be carried out, investigations into the cause of the hole were needed. A full survey of the ground took place to establish the cause of the collapse and, more importantly, if there were further issues that needed to be addressed.

Expert investigators found that ancient chalk excavations in the bedrock beneath an historic clay pit on which the area was built was the most likely explanation for the sinkhole.

Once it was established that there was no further cause for concern, work began to reconnect the utilities to affected homes and then reinstate the road.

Cllr Terry Douris, responsible for highways, said: "I’m delighted that we’ve reached the stage where this nightmare is almost over for residents and they can resume their normal lives. We appreciate it has taken some time to get to this stage, but we owed it to residents to make sure the area is safe, which it is, and that the reinstatement job is done properly.

“We are very aware that this has been an extremely stressful time for the residents and it is good that they can start returning their lives to normal."