Gas Leak Adds to Openreach’s Petrol Leak Headaches in Bramley UPDATE

National UK broadband and phone operator Openreach, which are already under pressure from having to help tackle a long-running underground petrol leak in the Surrey village of Bramley, have confirmed that they’ve had to pause work in the area again after 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 ongoing impact” of the incident, which technically began 2 year ago after fuel started leaking from the local ASDA Petrol Station (this wasn’t owned by ASDA at the time). But over the course of that time the leak has begun to cause fuel smells in the area, harming local businesses, and has also spread into the groundwater (i.e. no drinking of tap water in certain areas) and even local utility services.

At least 300 metres of their underground cable ducts in the area have been affected and cleaning it up will involve specialist equipment, processes and lots of detailed coordination amongst the affected organisations and relevant authorities. For example, they’ve already begun to work alongside Thames Water and others to extract vapour and fuel from their network, and the surrounding groundwater.

Openreach has previously notified ISPs and phone providers on their network that the dangers involved meant that the problem was likely to affect their local work and services (i.e. certain service repairs and new installs may not be possible). Naturally, it’s unsafe for their engineers to fully access the network until the risk is eliminated, and they’re “proceeding with extreme caution“. But in July 2024 they warned that “making [this] network safe and accessible” could now take “at least 12 months“ (here).

The situation has just been made worse after local MP and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, yesterday confirmed that there was also a “gas leak in the vicinity of the petrol station close to Bramley roundabout“, which has forced Openreach to pause their work in the area “until assessment [of the gas leak] is complete.”

Jeremy Hunt MP said:

“I have been alerted that there is now a confirmed gas leak in the vicinity of the petrol station close to Bramley roundabout. Cllr Austin alerted the Waverley recovery group earlier this week. The manholes in the locality are currently being vented until the leak can be fixed. Residents have raised with me understandable concerns about the potential implications of the interaction of gas with any petrol/petrol vapour in the ground and so I have also raised this directly with Waverley Borough Council on their behalf so we can all be reassured on this front.

However, this does also raise a wider question of whether the gas leak is connected to the petrol station leak because based on recent evidence we know both Thames Water and Openreach’s pipes have been impacted by the leak in recent months – with very significant consequences. So, I have made contact with the CEO of Scottish Gas Networks and also with Asda directly to ensure they are onto this.

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

An Openreach spokesperson told ISPreview:

“Due to a suspected gas leak, our joint boxes within the Bramley exclusion zone are currently being vented by SGN, awaiting further assessment. We’ve followed guidelines and paused venting petrol vapours to allow SGN to carry out its venting procedures.”

Once again, it’s very important to stress just how serious and dangerous this situation is, both for local residents and the engineers who are trying extremely hard to resolve an incredibly challenging problem. We have asked Openreach for an official comment, although it would not be at all surprising if this ends up meaning that resolving the petrol leak issue takes longer than currently forecast.

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

UPDATE 10:37am

We’ve added a comment from Openreach above.