Work to repair the hole at Birley tram stop could cost £1.5m
Mayor Coppard said work would not be completed "this side of Christmas"
South Yorkshire's Mayor estimates that work to repair the hole at Birley tram stop could reach £1.5m.
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On August 23, 2026, the gravel and stone beneath the outbound tram track between White Lane and Birley Lane disappeared down a hole.
Tram services have been suspended from Gleadless Townend to Halfway, where the route terminates, since the discovery of what turned out to be a historic mine shaft.
In a 'forward plan of all key decisions' document released on November 2, the cost of emergency investigation and repair works on the outbound track at Birley Lane was estimated to be £1.5m.
At a South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority committee meeting, Mayor Oliver Coppard told councillors the problem was “inherited" from the mine shaft "dropped off the maps at one point" leading to it being "missed by the people who originally built the tram."
He said: “Human error is a real thing but we’ve got to fix the problem."
Mayor Coppard said some online commenters had suggested "just pour a load of concrete down there".
"I appreciate the support from people but frankly, we have engineers for a reason.
"They've got to do a load of preparatory work in order to understand what exactly the shaft looks like and where it leads to and what else it connects to.
"If they don’t do that, if they just start shoving concrete down there, it could actually make the problem worse.
"You could destabilise something somewhere else, you could get concrete in the watercourse. You could cause all sorts of issues which would then be worse and harder to fix."
Councillor Tim Huggan asked the Mayor about the impact of the mine shaft on Crystal Peaks shopping centre, which is on the affected Blue tram route currently served by replacement buses.
He asked if there was anything the Mayor could do to make sure traders were "not going to have a bad Christmas”.
Mayor Coppard said he had heard mixed reports on the impact on trade but is going up to Crystal Peaks later this week to meet and talk to traders.
He confirmed it would cause an issue into Christmas and said: “If we can step in there and support, then we absolutely will.”
Councillor Luke Goddard, who represents Birley ward where the hole was found, said “one of the things he gets asked the most” by his constituents is when the tram will be functioning again.
Mayor Coppard said he understands people are frustrated, but he only had a vague timeline.
He said over the last few days he recieved the findings of the initial assessment.
"We now know what the mineshaft and surrounding ground looks like and we're designing a structure to safely support the tram tracks over it," he explained.
He confirmed the hole would not be fixed “this side of Christmas”.
The Mayor said he knew the replacement bus "isn't a perfect solution".
He said: "There's a reason we have a tram network, it's a really good way of getting around, so when it's not there, we all miss it.
“I have asked the question if we were to throw money at this problem would we be able to solve it more quickly, and it's not as simple as that.
"It's about the structure itself how much surrounding land we can use to go down there."