COUNCIL officials have revealed the cause of a sinkhole which has closed a busy city street for nearly a fortnight.

The road at Hartington Place in the city centre was sealed off to traffic on May 27 after a hole appeared in the road.

In the meantime, drivers have had to leave the road at the south end of the street, and turn onto Warwick Road to navigate round the area.

Workers from the council’s roads team carried out investigation works during the last 10 days to determine how the hole appeared, and assess the road around it.

A Cumbria County Council spokesman said: “We have located the cause of the sinkhole on Hartington Place.

“It has been repaired and works to re-instate the road are underway, it is anticipated the road will be re-opened by close of play today.

“The hole was caused by a crack on the drain close to where it connects to the combined sewer, which had caused the fines to wash out under the road.

“This is at a depth of about 2.5m, which required a significant excavation to locate and fix the problem.”

Traffic along Hartington Place has increased in recent weeks, with neighbours attributing the cause of the rise being the works by United Utilities to nearby Warwick Road.

Those works began in April and are set to finish in spring 2020.