BUSINESSES and residents in Blackheath Village have called for heavy traffic to be re-routed from the area after a second large pothole appeared.

The call follows the appearance of the 2m-wide hole at the bottom of Tranquil Vale on Wednesday, July 3.

It followed another hole, measuring 1.5m by 1.5m, which appeared at the bottom of Montpelier Vale eight days earlier.

Residents believe the holes are being caused by heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) diverted from Blackheath Hill, which has been closed since subsidence was discovered in April.

But because highway chiefs are desperate to keep traffic flowing through the village, it is impossible to investigate whether the holes are caused by HGVs or subsidence.

Blackheath Society secretary Gina Raggett said: "We are very worried. We said the road could not take the extra traffic. The whole area is very unstable. We do not know what the solution is but sending heavy vehicles through the village cannot be good ."

"Nobody is looking at the underlying problem. Heaven knows what is happening. We are very, very worried about the infrastructure of the village and they are using the Blackheath Hill hole as an excuse not to do anything.

"HGVs are coming through the village I think this is total madness."

Tranquil Vale estate agent Gary Cole added: "When large lorries come by, you can feel the vibrations even inside the office. It looks like we're all about to fall into the earth."

Lewisham Council says further investigation will be carried out when Blackheath Hill has reopened.

But in the meantime, it does not have an another option for re-routing the thousands of vehicles diverted through the village each day.

Head of Transport for Lewisham Colin Chick said: "We would like to thank residents for their patience, however the recent road collapse was not as a result of heavy lorries."

Blackheath Hill was forced to close and residents were evacuated when a hole the size of a bus appeared due to subsidence on April 7.

Transport for London, which is repairing Blackheath Hill, will be holding a meeting on July 15 between 6pm and 8pm to show how work is progressing. The meeting will be held at Borough Hall, Royal Hill, Greenwich.

Or you can talk to experts about the subsidence at an exbition, at Jubilee Hall, Blissett Street, from July 16 to 20.

July 9, 2002 12:30