Residents living close to a mineshaft from the 1800s have been told that there is no need for concern.

Around 35 people attended a meeting at the Washington Central Hotel, chaired by Workington MP Mark Jenkinson.

Tim Marples, head of public safety and subsidence at the Coal Authority, reassured residents that steps had been taken to secure the site and outlined what will happen over the next few months.

To safeguard residents he said the coal authority has: “Installed monitoring, injected resin foam right above the shaft to ensure no loose material can continue down from the initial collapse, spoken to residents, engaged with the stakeholders, done the historical trawl and then undertook two phases of ground investigation.”

He said it will be necessary to demolish seven houses that are in a collapse zone in Hunter Street, in order to create a permanent bridge space with platform and rigg, drill down to the base and grout the shaft with cement then grout the sand and gravel and glue it together, then put a cap on top.

Three of the seven houses have already been purchased by the authority.

Future plans include completing the remaining house purchases by the end of April, tendering works for demolition to local contractors by May, seeking planning approval for demolition and to close the road by June, drilling and grouting and reinstating the site after consultation by August 2020.

Mr Murphy said it was not their policy to build on the top of the area after the shaft is filled in. Possible future uses could be parking or public open space, but will depend on what they find once the shaft is excavated.

He said: “Each phase will give us more information, but we will be open and transparent and discuss as we go. What I’d like to do is build some on either side, we’ve done that before, but I don’t know if it’s possible at this stage until we’ve undertaken the grouting works to do that. In an ideal world I’d love to put some back, but that will evolve once we’ve done some drilling.”

Mr Marples reassured residents that once the work has been done there will be no danger to other properties in the area. He said: “I have no concerns at all that anyone else has got any risk. Once the works are done then definitely no risk.”

For more information residents can contact PS&S Support Team on 01623637429 or contact them on ps&sadmin@coal.gov.uk