A hole outside a coffee shop has finally been fixed, 10 weeks after it first appeared.

People were forced to walk in the road to avoid the crater which appeared outside the library in Tallents Close, Sutton-at-Hone, just before Christmas.

Ward councillor George Holt (Con) has been fighting for weeks to get something done about it.

He said: "I'd like to thank residents for their caution and patience and Kent County Council who managed to get Thames Water to finally sort this out.

"I'm glad Thames Water finally accepted this as their responsibility, but there are some real questions for them to answer as to why it took myself and residents to be pushing for weeks for this to finally be addressed by the appropriate authority."

Krisha White, who runs The Meeting Place coffee shop inside the library, is also pleased, as she had been particularly concerned about the safety of the visitors who came to her coffee shop and craft activities, and had contacted KentOnline to share her fears.

She said: "We're glad to see our pavement safely open again for pedestrians and thank you to all those involved in getting it finally sorted after 10 weeks of frustrating waiting."

Speaking previously about her fears over people's safety, Krisha said: "Pedestrians now have to walk into the lay-by which potentially isn't safe as the floor is dropping there too.

"We have quite a few parents with buggies and people pushing others in wheelchairs who now have to push down and up the kerb in the lay-by as they can't use the pavement."

Thames Water was approached for comment.