A SINK hole has grown further and other depressions have appeared in the grounds of a city centre garden.

Fencing has appeared around Old Steine Gardens after further dents in the garden have appeared in recent days.

The council said that it is currently coordinating landscaping repair and re-grassing works along Valley Gardens, including Old Steine Gardens, following a Christmas market and festival that residents claim made the area look like a "quagmire of mud".

Gary Farmer, founder of the Old Steine Community Association, said he had never seen the area fenced off in this way before and claimed that the council have not given any information to residents, stakeholders or businesses about the state of the gardens.

He said: "The sink hole is ever expanding, there are other depressions in the grounds and it is still a muddy swamp three weeks on after departure - the grass will not grow back magically overnight."

A spokesman for the council said: "Grass improvement work at the Old Steine Gardens started this week.

"We will be levelling small patches of ground that have been compressed, and also carrying out further investigative work on the sinkhole in order to decide how best to repair it.

"We expect the works to take two to three weeks in total."

The council previously said that it was "incredibly unlikely" that the Christmas market and festival was to blame for the sink hole.

Earlier this month, the council said: "Sink holes form for a number of different reasons.

"One common factor is rock erosion underneath the surface of the ground.

"Even though sink holes appear to form suddenly, usually the underlying causes of them have been happening for some time.

"Now that Southern Water has confirmed that the sink hole in Old Steine Gardens isn't caused by leaking pipes, it will most likely be filled in as part of the works."

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