T pot 1 said:
Keeping persons from within the fence will be an ongoing problem. If it's adults then this may be mitigated to those persons having no sense - there is clearly a fence and the appropriate signage warning people to KEEP OUT.
Unfortunately that is no guarentee of who ever it is having a brain and doing as they are instructed. Worryingly, if it is private land, I could see the land owner closing access totally to avoid having any liability.
If it's children then eduction is not sufficient in the immediate area. Talks at local schools may be considered. The village has an history of open caves and capped mine shafts. Think about a certain child that was lost in a cave some time back.
That may have an opposite affect of flagging up that there is a nice big hole to play with, and well - accidents happen.
Liability is an issue. Think about a knee jerk reaction, 1) Fill it in. This causes some concern because further investigations are necessary to avoid future problems. 2) Do we have to construct a berlin wall to keep every one out. Fence and signage IS in place 3) when all else fails PANIC !! for gods sake this is a swallet that may have been opened by the children that we are trying to protect. If it wasn't for the children's intervention of diverting the stream this would not have happened. Therefore the present liability does not exist as such.
Unfortunately, again, liability does exist, and it may lie with the landowner, irrespective of who diverted the stream.
In conclusion - for now, moving the footpath is a reasonable thing to consider whilst further natural stabalisation of the swallet takes place. We need to keep a close eye on this situation.
T-pot
Is this feasible given the placement of the swallet and the proximity of the sides of the delph? You could move it further up the western side away from the swallet, but that gives a better view of the hole.
Perhaps a better idea for the time being may be to obtain more of the wire fencing and stretch it over the swallet off the tops of the current fence stakes already in place. Mind you, some idiot would climb on it and start 'bouncing'.
A long drop and short life span would follow.
Martin