Work to remediate a sink hole that opened under the Wallsend Diggers Sports Club on Fogo Street in March will take approximately another three weeks to complete, the state authority that deals with such matters has estimated.
Saturday, July 8, marked the 15th week since the ground beneath the Sporties bowling club sank several inches sparking a multi-agency emergency response and the evacuation of some 40 residents of the suburban neighbourhood on March 25.
The incident was caused by subsidence in historic mine shafts beneath the honeycombed suburb, and forced the immediate closure of the Wallsend Diggers Sports Club, a days-long evacuation for residents, and damage estimated to have run into millions.
The NSW Mine Subsidence Authority has taken charge of operations to stabilise the earth beneath the Sporties.
Workers have spent the past three months pumping a grout solution into subterranean voids to stabilise an estimated 60-square-metre area mostly beneath the Sporties bowling greens.
Following technical specifications, several wells have been sunk into the street, and in some cases into the land on residential properties along Fogo Street, to target specific areas of the mine beneath.
But a Mine Subsidence Authority spokesperson assured residents that these were not necessarily an indication of subsidence impacts or ground movement.
To date, there have been no reports of damage to residential properties as a result of the subsidence.
"It is possible for ground to subside without causing any damage to the buildings above," the spokesperson said.
While the authority estimated initial works could be finished in the next three weeks, the spokesperson said more time might be needed following the verification process.
Members of the Sporties club have expressed their frustrations in recent weeks as work dragged on and they waited to learn the fate of the club either from the parent organisation - Wallsend Diggers - or from the state.
Explained: mine subsidence compensation in NSW
IN 2016, the state government changed the review system that dealt with compensating property owners in areas prone to mine subsidence.
In the preceding decade, state records showed that there had been only four damage claims for properties in a subsidence district that ultimately revealed non-compliant development practices, prompting the department to scrap a cumbersome compliance check system of issuing subsidence certificates, and redraw the compensation Act.
Under the Coal Mine Subsidence Compensation Act 2017, property owners are entitled to compensation - paid either by the proprietor of an active coal mine, or by the state's coal mine subsidence compensation fund in the case of issues arising from a non-active mine - for damages and actions to mitigate damage from subsidence.
A state map notes a litany of Newcastle suburbs, including Wallsend, Elermore Vale and Rankin Park, as well as areas throughout the Hunter Valley and Lake Macquarie, as mine subsidence areas.
The state's spokesperson said the ultimate cost of works to fix the Fogo Street subsidence could not be determined until "well after completion" of the works to remediate the site, adding "compensation claims for coal mine subsidence are determined through a claims assessment process".
