Christmas tree in sinkhole is Bognor's latest festive attraction

The sink hole first appeared on Thursday (December 7), according to residents, and it is still not known how long the repair works will take, but the Christmas tree has made it something of a visitor’s attraction in the meantime.

"It was my partner Margaret’s idea," grinned Ivy Lane resident Andrew Goodwill. “She came home and she said ‘go grab that scratty little Christmas tree up in the loft’.

"This was actually before the blue barriers were around it. That’s the funny thing. We lit the Christmas tree up, stuck it in the sink hole and, then, later on, the workmen came along to put barriers around it!”

He made clear that the tree was only really intended as "a bit of fun" and, alarming though it is, rather than a jab at council highways maintenance.

"It’s a bit inconvenient because you have to go around through Ivy Crescent to get into Ivy Lane, but we wanted to make a bit of fun out of it all. Margaret and I fancied making the the sinkhole a bit more festive. I’ve actually heard, since we put it up, that some people have come along to visit it, so it’s actually become a bit of a visitor’s attraction!”

Although it appears fairly small in some of the pictures, Mr Goodwill said the sinkhole is actually alarmingly large.

“You can’t really see it in the photos, but it actually goes down almost three metres, to where the sewer is,” he explained. “It's very deep. The only thing that’s holding the tree up is the tarmac on the road. Who knows how far it goes, who knows what’s caused it. But it runs from where it is, diagonally towards the houses.

"I’ve seen some people taking the cones out of the way and driving past it, but they’ll be the first ones to complain when it collapses.”

A spokesperson for West Sussex County Council said: “The void was discovered late last week and safety barriers put in place.

"We are trying to establish the cause and are working on a repair scheme. The road will be repaired and reopened as soon as possible.”