AN investigation into the subsidence and cracks which have suddenly appeared across Newbury’s Victoria Park to the fury of residents and councillors will start within days.
Newbury Town Council chief executive Graham Hunt said yesterday (Wednesday) that he had sourced several estimates into the cost of funding an independent survey into the cause of the damage, believed to be caused by water extraction work carried out by Parkway contractors, and that an investigation will begin in the next few days.
Members of the public turned out in force at a town council meeting on Monday (26) to air their views on the problems which have exacerbated in recent weeks, stretching from cracks in the paving and walls around the park and tennis courts to prominent fractures in homes around the edge of Victoria Park and Victoria Park Nursery School and Children’s Centre.
Newbury Bowling Club said the water extraction has caused its well to dry for the first time in its history, and has left the green in such a state that the ancient club, one of the oldest in the country having started life in Pelican Lane in 1598, could be forced to close down for good.
Newbury Town Council officers expressed concerns that works undertaken by Parkway contractors Costain, which is building an underground car park as part of construction of the retail and residential development, caused the cracks. Works to expel groundwater from the site began in 2009. The water comes from a high water table and underlying aquifer on the former marshes and is being pumped into the nearby river.
Secretary of Newbury Bowling Club, Rod Collins, said at the meeting that the irrigation system was dry for the first time in history, with potentially dire consequences for the club.
“We haven’t had water in the well since they started draining it. The water feeds the sprinklers and we haven’t been able to water the green.
“Since the first week of June the decline has been rapid. It could be the end of the club,” he said.
Describing the park as “the jewel in Newbury’s crown”, Newbury town councillor Julian Swift-Hook (Lib Dem, Pyle Hill) echoed calls for an investigation and said the damage extended into houses to the north.
David Woodhouse, Project Director for Costain attended the meeting and rebuffed claims the company was to blame for the problems.
“We didn’t just start the scheme without undertaking tests,” he said. “Costain is a massive civil engineering company, and extensive surveys and tests had taken place; even the Environment Agency had conducted their own tests.”
Mr Woodhouse said that the cracks and subsidence were the result of “the driest year for 50 years,” however members of the public refuted his claims.
Newbury resident Penny Collins said: “2006 was a dry year, it was never this bad then. I have never seen the park look like this in 40 years.”
And MET Office spokeswoman Sarah Holland said provisional figures suggested that the district was drier last year.
“The provisional rainfall total for Berkshire and West Berkshire for January to June this year was 268mm, whereas last years' provisional rainfall total for the area for January to June was 256mm.” She said the figure for the same period in the notorious heat wave of 1976, was just 123mm.
One angry resident, Bridget Tucker, a representative of Friends of Victoria Park, who lives near the park, said prior to the meeting that in recent weeks fractures had begun to appear on the walls inside her house.
“My concern is for the foundations of the houses around here. Visible problems are one thing, but what about the damage behind it that we are not seeing?” she said.
Newbury Town Council leader, Ifor Sheldon (Lib Dem, Victoria), said that the town council must act immediately for the good of Newbury and for all the people who were concerned and wanted answers.

Have you been affected by the cracks appearing across the town? Call reporter Mark Taylor on 01635 564532.