Busy Paignton road stays shut as repairs go on

A busy Paignton seafront road will stay closed well into July as complicated repairs continue.

A hole appeared in the surface of Sands Road in April, and engineers sent to examine it discovered a void the size of a shipping container under the road.
The area was immediately cordoned off for safety as experts worked out what had happened, saying it could take up to six weeks to complete the repairs.
They said the void under the road was much larger than had first been thought – three metres deep, three metres across and eight metres long.
That was just before the Easter holidays, and now work is continuing into the busy summer season. The issue is a large drainage pipe which has broken deep under the ground.
Now Torbay Council says the main section of new pipe is now in place in the deep trench under the road. Contractors have connected the pipe to the inspection shafts at each end, working at a depth of four metres, with the sides of the trench held by supports.
The next stage is to install a thick layer of concrete to protect the outside of the pipe. After that, the trench will be back-filled.
The council says that will mean work can then start on the next repair required, which they believe will be more straightforward than the main damaged section.
And following that, there is one more small repair needed upstream of the works.
A council spokesman said: “Sands Road will remain closed while this takes place for safety reasons to protect the public and the workforce.”
The council said repairs had been complicated by difficult ground conditions and uncertainty over the stability of the void.
No date has been set for the road to be re-opened.