A provisional date has been announced for the re-opening of a road blighted by a sinkhole for the past three months.

The sinkhole on Tonbridge Road, Barming, opened up on May 28 and the road has been closed ever since while Kent County Council carry out major work to stabilise it.

KCC has now announced the road is set to be re-opened on October 20 – a full five months since the chasm opened.

A spokesman said: “Following the completion and demobilisation of the compaction grouting works last week our activities are now focused on the ground preparations for the sewer replacement.

“To make use of the resources currently on site KCC will be undertaking this ground preparation to avoid unnecessary delay in handing over this operation to Southern Water.

“Instead we will be undertaking as much of this activity as possible, including digging and supporting the trench using our equipment on site to allow Southern Water to reinstate and seal their sewer as soon as we have completed the ground work for them.

“We now have a programme of works which is detailed below and should now provide a timeframe for when the road will be re-open.”

Four weeks of work will be dedicated to the reinstatement of the sewer before South East Water and other utilities companies will be given time to carry out their necessary repairs.

The spokesman added: “It should be noted that a significant number of milestones remain and the completion timescales below are dependent on a number of factors going forward. The intention at this stage is to provide some measure of assurance on when the road will be reopen and community life returned to normal.

“The programme below is based on full 7 day a week working (day works) and synchronised activities undertaken concurrently where space and safety allows on the site.

“To summarise the vast majority of the works will be completed in a 4 week period following the reinstatement of the sewer, which is the final hurdle prior to reconstructing the road.

“We will make every effort to shorten this period as far as possible but we are dependent on others in this regard to complete their activities as quickly as possible.”