A crater which forced residents to leave their homes and closed a road for more than two-and-a-half years appears to be growing, according to a resident living just yards away.

The gypsum crater in Ure Bank Terrace, Ripon, swalloped up part of a garage, caused two families to leave their semi-detached homes and eventually led to the demolition of a Victorian house used as four flats.

John Brian, whose home is 20 yards from the crater, said it was showing signs of increasing in depth and width, as well as causing part of the road to sink and the nearby footpath to crack.

Mr Brian, who has been monitoring the hole since it appeared in April 1997, said there was a marked dip in the road, measuring about nine inches and stretching for two yards. There are other small signs of sinkage.

Meanwhile, cracks had appeared in the retaining wall of his garden, said Mr Brian.

The original crater was 40ft wide and 16ft deep. And its sudden and dramatic appearance devoured a large chunk of garden once part of the demolished homes.

It was caused by the collapse of underground gypsum deposits.

It was eventually filled in by North Yorkshire County Council after private owners refused to pay. An estimated ten tonnes of stone was poured into the hole.

Mr Brian said he had been so concerned about the increase in the crater's size that he had raised it with the county council's head of environmental services, Mike Masterman.

But Mr Masterman said current legal advice was that the council should not undertake further work on the site.

He said work had been undertaken on the hole as a result of a local initiative by a county council employee on two occasions in the past.

Mr Masterman said it was the responsibility of the private landowner to deal with the hole, but acknowleded that the road was the responsibility of the council and had been monitored for the past few years.

It is now checked on a monthly basis.

Mr Masterman said the council had not seen anything to give it cause for concern.

He said cracks in the retaining wall had been there for a couple of years.

In addition, the council had been aware of the "deformed" road outside Mr Brian's property for three or four years.

But Mr Brian said the situation was worse than before. Because landowners of the site of the crater no longer lived on the land he was unable to contact them.

"I don't think it is my job to contact various land owners involved," he said, adding he believed that was the county council's job.

The cost of filling in the hole was estimated at £25,000 and the council had hoped to recoup the money from the landowners.