Mineshaft opens up under front garden in Cornwall cul-de-sac

A huge emergency fence erected around a property where a mineshaft opened up in the front garden is making elderly residents' lives a misery, they have said.

The mineshaft opened up in front of a house on White House Close in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, on the last day of November, prompting Cornwall Council to erect an emergency security fence around it the next day. But since then, nothing has been done to the fence - dubbed 'overkill' by some residents - which stretches around the property and blocks the road.

The obstruction means some people have had to move their cars away from their homes and reverse out of the cul-de-sac to get anywhere, while some feel they can't leave their homes, or are forced to walk around the fence. Locals are calling for a small gap to be opened up so elderly, vulnerable people can get past more easily, or at least for an update on what is happening with the fence.

But the local council has said while it understands people's concerns, it is prioritising safety while mining investigations are carried out.

Mark Richards, speaking on behalf of some of his neighbours in White House Close, told the local newspaper that one elderly resident he witnessed struggling to get past the fence had said he had lost his independence and quality of life and can't go out. He said: "I understand the road closure but I told the head of engineering in mid December that I had concerns about residents and that it needed to be reassessed.

"One of their own engineers even said the fencing was overkill and it was blocking the whole road off. There’s been no indication of sinking or subsidence on the road. If they just opened it up a couple of feet – I’m not saying remove it. The more able-bodied residents can cope with it but elderly people can’t." He said he had even seen one lady having to be wheeled in the rain in a trolley by paramedics because of the lack of access.

Richards said while local councillors had been sympathetic to his complaints, nothing had yet been done. He added: "I’m not concerned about the general inconvenience but I am concerned about the welfare of vulnerable residents, and I’m aware these things have got the potential to run for months. The fence was installed and then left with no updates and with no point of contact for us. We have just been left to put up with it."

Safety has to be priority

Residents are now reportedly waiting for the results of a geotechnical engineering test to see if there are unstable mine workings on the road outside the affected property.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: "We fully understand the inconvenience caused to residents, but safety has to be our first priority, and this fencing must remain in place until the results of a forthcoming mining investigation are known. The property owner’s insurance company will conduct an invasive investigation later this month. Based on this assessment, we will reassess the measures currently in place.

"We are committed to resolving the issue as soon as possible and appreciate everyone’s patience and cooperation."

Do I own the land under my house?

Situations where something happens underground, affecting properties above, often open the debate on who actually owns the ground under their home.

According to chartered surveyors Julian Wilkins & Co., in the UK, the owner of a freehold property owns everything from the centre of the earth up to the "lower stratum", which is somewhere between 500ft (150m) to 1,000ft (300m) above ground level. However, the Crown does have rights over any gas, coal, oil, silver, or gold found on both public and private property.

For leasehold properties, which include flats as well as some houses and bungalows, ownership depends on the terms of the lease, the firm says. It cites the case of Gorst v Knight [2018], where the owner of a ground floor flat with a cellar had obtained planning permission to excavate the basement to create extra habitable living space, but the terms of their lease meant they did not have an automatic right to dig down and the actual soil appeared to belong to the freeholder. That meant the leaseholder not only needed permission from their freeholder, but would have had to buy the land underneath the building.

Recommended reading

• Residents of two homes forced to flee after mineshaft opens up in their gardens (The Packet - Falmouth)

• Sinkhole opens up on road, causing bus service to be diverted (Bury Times)

• Another sinkhole appears due to HS2 tunnelling machine (Bucks Free Press)