“Every time the rain comes down heavy, I panic, every time,” Mrs Bradford said. 

“I worry about the grandkids. It’s a danger to them.

"It just keeps eating and eating away, every time there’s a big rainfall.”

Mrs Bradford, who works part time at Coles, said she had meshed off the areas to keep her grandchildren away from the holes appearing in the driveway but there was not anything she could do to halt the problem. 

On Tuesday night, March 21, the heavy rain saw more ground collapse away into the creek. 

Mrs Bradford feels it’s only a matter of time before a major collapse takes her shed and directly endangers her family home. 

Discussions about the problem have been ongoing with the owners of neighbouring land, which was previously owned by oil company Shell. 

The land was sold but, in a strange quirk, a strip of land just a metre across at its widest point remains the property of the company. That strip of land runs down the side of Mrs Bradford’s property at the rear end of the block. 

Shell has since been purchased by Swiss oil trader Vitol, now known as Viva Energy Australia, which is the exclusive licensee of the Shell brand in Australia.

Mayor Stephen Lesslie said, after being approached by Mrs Bradford on Australia Day this year, he wrote a letter to the company asking for action. 

“If we can try and get it fixed now, it will be a much cheaper, better solution than pretending it’s not a problem until it gets much worse,” he said. 

He said the previous council had sent a letter to Viva Energy Australia, via its lawyers, on July 14, 2016, with no reply. He had sent his own letters in February and March this year.

A Viva Energy spokesperson has denied the company was responsible for the site. 

“Viva Energy (previously Shell) owns a one metre wide lot of land that runs directly behind residential properties but according to our company records we do not own the land extending to Farmer’s Creek or Ida Falls where the erosion issues are being caused," the spokesperson said. 

"It is the responsibility of the owner of this parcel of land to address the erosion issues impacting some residential properties.  

“We have previously clarified this matter with both the council and residents but given that we also continue to be impacted by the same land erosion issue we will continue to engage with council to address the matter with the relevant land owner.”