By Safira Ali

Last updated at 13:11, Tuesday, 31 March 2009

A Workington sports field has been cordoned off after a suspected mineshaft was uncovered.

The hole is blocked off

The hole, measuring six feet wide by three feet deep, appeared on playing fields at Moorclose Sports Centre on Saturday.

Allerdale council was contacted by a local councillor and they got in touch with the Coal Authority. An investigation is now under way to determine whether the subsidence has been caused by a mine.

John Delaney, corporate affairs manager at the Coal Authority, said they were looking at maps and going through records to see if it matched the location of a coal mine.

“If it is then we will decide what to do then,” he said. “If it is not then we will hand it back to Allerdale council, which owns the land. We have to go back through all the records so it will take some time.”

He said they treated public safety as “paramount” and had put up a fence around the hole.

Councillors Denis Robertson and Bill Bacon went to see the hole at 8am on Saturday.

Mr Robertson said: “ I couldn’t believe it. The field had been fine on Wednesday. The hole was six foot wide by three feet deep.

“I am concerned because of its locality. Schools will be breaking up for Easter soon. People walk their dogs in this area and there is wildlife nearby. I am telling people not to go down there. The land was breaking away, but we don’t know whether it was because of drainage works. It could be anything. But we do have a history of mine shafts in Moorclose.

“The land is well used, especially at the weekends when local football teams play there.”

Councillor Peter Bales said: “From speaking to people in the area they say there is a history of two mine shafts in that area so it is possible. Some can remember them being capped 30 years ago. Or it could be drains underneath which could have collapsed.

“There are a number of mine shafts dotted around the area.”

Last April residents in Egremont were forced out of their homes after it was discovered that they were living on top of an old mine shaft. The shaft was unearthed at Howbank Road as part of an area-wide geological survey commissioned by housing association Home following the collapse of another mine shaft in Greenmoor Road, just a quarter of a mile away, in 2005.

The Greenmoor Road collapse happened when a large hole appeared overnight in one of the bungalow gardens. Residents were temporarily re-homed and nine bungalows demolished.

First published at 11:33, Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk