RESIDENTS were baffled when a hole appeared outside their homes, only to discover that the real mystery is who takes responsibility for filling it in.

The hole appeared in the alley between Blackett Street and South View, Bishop Auckland, on Tuesday.

No one has established what caused the subsidence yet, but residents are more concerned about who will fill it in, after they discovered the road is unadopted and consequently not the responsibility of the county council. The road is legally owned by people living on the adjoining streets.

Shane Northgreaves, of South View said: "The tarmac just collapsed. Somebody has tarmaced it in the past, so someone must have accepted responsibility for it at some stage.

"I am just concerned that we have a big hole in the alley that someone will fall down because nobody will accept responsibility. We have a lot of children who play around here. It is dangerous."

Northumbria Water staff are expected to carry out investigations into the subsidence today, to try to establish the cause.

County councillor Stephen Gregory said the matter was being investigated and he was confident it would be resolved by next week.

A spokesman for Durham County Council said: "Once they have been able to determine the cause of the hole we may be able to give them some advice about who to contact. In the meantime we will render the road safe by putting barriers around the hole."