Fuel Leak update

The following update has been provided by local councillor Jane Austin

You will all have been witnessing lots of activity in our village as many agencies and consultees are working jointly to assess and fix the fuel leak.

I am in daily contact with everyone - Waverley Environmental team, Asda, EPS (their Consultants) Thames Water, the Petroleum Officer - so we can fully understand what is happening:

1. The latest update from EPS - Asda’s Environmental Consultants can be found here. This is an informative document - I really recommend reading it.

2. Many of you have contacted me concerned about the strength of the fuel smell. We have checked multiple times - you will have seen people on site. I am told although the vapour smell is strong it is well below concentrations which would be concerning for safety. If at any stage, you are concerned about fuel vapour and flammability please contact the Fire Brigade via 999.

3. The volume of rain and high water table at this time of year is why the smell and pollution is so bad right now. We have had the barriers replaced this week - let me know if they go brown so I can get them replaced again.

4. The cleanup process will take time and the Environment Agency need to sign off on everything. Preparatory work is underway right now and we will see more action in the New Year.

5. The EA is investigating with a view to prosecution. This is a long process - I can’t really comment further than that at this stage.

We all want to smell to go away, and the pollution to stop ASAP, but we have to let these parties get on with the clean-up process properly - which takes time. Although it’s frustrating for us all, I am satisfied that we’ve got a lot of people focused on fixing this for our village.

Thank you to everybody has been reporting and for all your help.

Happy Christmas!
Jane
Waverley Borough Councillor
Bramley and Wonersh Ward
Bramley Parish Council

To view this information and other news from Jane please click here