A MINEshaft found in a front garden in Gunnislake more than six months ago is to be filled in this week, much to the relief of the elderly residents. It was originally thought the hole at Sandhill Park would have to be capped, but investigations found it to be an exploratory shaft only eight metres deep. Staff from Caradon District Council said work to backfill the hole would be completed by the end of this week. Owners of the property Larry and June Lockett said they would be ?tremendously relieved? when the work was done after months of uncertainty and fears that there might be mine workings beneath their bungalow. The shock discovery of a mineshaft a few feet from the front door was made in March while Caradon was digging boreholes in the area as part of an investigation to check if contaminated earth had been removed from the site. Mr Lockett, 68, who has lived at the site for two and a half years, said he was ?dumfounded? at the discovery. He told the Times this week that he was continuing to take tablets for high blood pressure, something he had never suffered from in the past, and the whole experience had been very traumatic. ?We will be tremendously relieved when the hole is filled in but is the council going to reinburse me for digging up half my lawn and my rose bushes?? he said. The work is expected to cost around half of the original estimate of £10,000, but Mr Lockett said on a pensioner?s income of £90 a week, there was no way he could pay for it, even he if he felt it was his responsibility. He believes the responsibility lies with the builders or Caradon District Council as the planning authority. Head of operations and technical services at Caradon District Council Jerry Masters said the council would foot the bill initially but it would be charged against the property. ?The good news is that we think there are no deep mine workings in that area because this hole was exploratory and obviously nothing was found so they would have gone somewhere else,? he said.
