The gas leak adds to Openreach’s petrol leak headaches in Bramley

The UK’s national broadband and phone operator Openreach, already under pressure to help deal with a long-running underground petrol leak in the Surrey village of Bramley, has confirmed that they have had to return to stop work in the area after the Southern Gas Network. (SGN) reported a “suspected gas leak” too.

Just to recap our last report in early June 2024 (here). Openreach is currently dealing with the “significant and continued impact” of the incident, which technically started 2 years ago after fuel started leaking from the local ASDA petrol station (not owned by ASDA at the time). But over this time the leak has started to cause fuel smells in the area, harming local businesses, and has also spread to the groundwater (ie you can’t drink tap water in certain areas) and even to local public services.

NOTE: Openreach previously measured gas on its network to be above the “Lower explosive limit” (ie an ignition source could cause an explosion within the underground conduits).

At least 300 meters of its underground cable conduits in the area have been affected and their cleanup will involve specialized equipment, processes and a lot of detailed coordination between the affected organizations and the relevant authorities. For example, they have already started working side by side Thames water and others to extract steam and fuel from its network and surrounding groundwater.

Openreach has previously notified ISPs and telephony providers on its network that the dangers involved meant that the issue could affect their local work and services (ie certain service repairs and new installations may not be possible) . Naturally, it is not safe for their engineers to fully access the network until the risk is removed, and they are “proceeding with extreme caution“. But in July 2024 they warned that “making (this) network secure and accessible“now I could take”at least 12 months“(here).

The situation has just gotten worse after local MP and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt confirmed yesterday that there was also a “gas leak in vicinity of petrol station near Bramley roundabout“which has forced Openreach to stop work in the area”until the assessment (of the gas leak) is completed.“.

Jeremy Hunt MP said:

“I have been alerted that there is now a confirmed gas leak in the vicinity of the petrol station near the Bramley roundabout. Cllr Austin alerted the Waverley recovery team earlier this week. They are currently venting the fences in the locality until the leak can be fixed.Residents have raised understandable concerns with me about the possible implications of the gas interacting with any gasoline/gasoline vapor on the ground and I have therefore also raised this directly with the Waverley Borough Council on his behalf so that we can all be reassured on this.

However, this also raises the wider question of whether the gas leak is connected to the petrol station leak, as we know based on recent evidence that both Thames Water and Openreach pipes have been affected by the leak in recent months, with very important consequences. So I have contacted the CEO of Scottish Gas Networks and also Asda directly to make sure they are on board with this.

We urgently need to understand a risk and also if we need that dreaded word needed to fix it… more roadworks.”

Once again, it is very important to emphasize how serious and dangerous this situation is, both for local residents and for the engineers who are working hard to solve an incredibly challenging problem. We’ve asked Openreach for an official comment, although it wouldn’t be at all surprising if this ends up meaning the petrol leak issue takes longer to resolve than currently anticipated.

The image at the top of this article was posted by Jeremy Hunt on October 18, 2024.