Friday 23 August update
There is positive news with the remediation work continuing to progress well across Bramley and with the petrol station reopening this week.
Thames water report that they continue to carry out routine samples as well as drilling trial holes to check for contamination.
The ‘do not drink’ notice has now been lifted across Bramley apart from a very specific area within St Catherines School. Thames Water are currently in discussion with the UK Health Security Agency with regards to lifting this final part of the notice.
Openreach have reported that:
- they continue to monitor the vapour levels within the Openreach network, but in some areas they still remain too high for engineers to safely access or commence engineering activity within the affected area (see orange grid below)
- Outside of this remit, w/c 26 August, Openreach will re-commence some engineering works in attempt to restore service where the network routes don’t cross or enter the currently impacted area
- In addition, we are continuing to work closely with our service providers to support them to offer alternative and temporary solutions, as well as identifying and protecting vulnerable customers affected
- It’s important that if there is a vulnerable customer with a fault or service impact that this is raised directly with the service provider. If there are any challenges with this, please contact us at bramley-incident@openreach.co.uk and we will reach out to the service providers and work in partnership
- Openreach will shortly start to replace the markings on the footway chamber lids with ‘Do Not Open’
- The Openreach Bramley page website continues to be updated - https://www.openreach.com/news/update-on-fuel-leak-in-bramley-surrey/
Click the following link to view a diagram of the Openreach affected area.
Asda now have upwards of 50 boreholes which they continue to monitor. Further information is available on the Waverley Borough Website.
Business Rates Relief: there have been questions in relation to the availability of Business Rates Relief which we have been investigating. Following a number of conversations including those with Asda, it appears that individuals will need to make their own individual claim and that there is no provision for a collective claim. We have received the following advice:
Any requests for a reduction to a property’s Rateable Value (RV), temporary or otherwise, will need to be submitted using the link below. Here is a link to a step by step guide for any business owners who are not familiar with our Check and Challenge service: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-and-challenge-your-business-rates-valuation-step-by-step
Affected business owners need to be aware that any Check submitted for a temporary reduction in RV must be submitted while the cause of the reduction is ongoing.
Bramley Community Recovery Group: To ensure that we best meet the needs of the community, especially those more vulnerable members, the Group met this week. As an RCG we will be looking at ways to make these updates more widely accessible. Concerns were raised regarding the number of people, including vulnerable people, who may be impacted by telephone or internet faults who were unknown to any agency. If you are aware of anyone who you would consider vulnerable, please let us know. The advice is to contact your service provider in the first place.
Friday 16 August update
As we move into a new phase of the recovery, with the launch of the Asda business support scheme and Asda’s engagement with the local community, we would like to emphasise the importance of partnership working and recognise the valuable contributions being made by Bramley Business Network and the Bramley Residents’ Action Group. They are independent networks which provide a unified voice to represent businesses in Bramley and the Bramley residents respectively, and the Council and other partner organisations involved in the recovery phase look forward to working with them to support the recovery process.
The Bramley Business Network has been set up following the issues that Bramley has suffered. Their aim is to:
- Liaise with relevant parties to secure compensation for affected businesses including a business rates freeze and other support.
- To take advantage of business support offered and explore promotional ideas.
- To support businesses in Bramley and make connections, introductions and opportunities to network in a relaxed way.
If you would like to find out more, please email bramleybusinessnetwork@gmail.com
The Bramley Residents Action Group (BRAG) has been set up to provide a voice to Bramley residents focusing on the remediation of the affected area and to provide an understanding of the impact of the fuel leak. If you are a member of the community impacted by the incident and would like more information about BRAG please go to their facebook page BRAG Updates - Bramley Resident Action Group | Facebook
Thames Water, Openreach and Asda and their consultants are continuing with their remediation plans:
Thames water advise that:
- They will be drilling more test boreholes in the area checking for plastic pipes.
- All supplies into St Catherine’s school have now been replaced and results of the final samples are awaited before the last of the restrictions can be lifted.
Openreach advise that:
- They continue to monitor the vapour levels in their network and are seeing a reduction in some areas due to the vapour extraction unit operating.
- Analysis is being carried out to confirm the level of contamination that is within the network, this will inform them on their next steps on remediation.
- They are continuing to work closely with their service providers to support them, to offer alternative and temporary solutions, as well as identifying and protecting vulnerable customers affected
- They have updated our Bramley webpage this week, it is noted with the date of update at the bottom of the page.
Update on fuel leak in Bramley, Surrey (openreach.com)
Asda advise that:
- They will be drilling additional boreholes within the Openreach compound to enable further ground water level monitoring.
- They have worked with Thames Water on Station Road works to taking samples but no evidence of contamination found.
The Waverley Borough Council website has links to the various organisations road maps and information regarding the ongoing remediation work please see Bramley petrol contamination: Information and advice (waverley.gov.uk)
Friday 9 August update
The Recovery Coordinating Group met today (9 August 2024) in relation to the Bramley petrol contamination issues.
Asda released their Business Support Scheme this week at the Business and Economic recovery Group meeting on Tuesday, thank you to Bramley Golf Club for hosting. More details can be found here. They then met with residents and community representatives.
Asda are keen to receive ideas from the community on how they may be able to facilitate community recovery.
Please do not hesitate to contact us and the Bramley Residents Action Group bramleyrag@gmail.com with any ideas which can then be presented to Asda.
Asda aim to reopen the petrol filling station in Bramley on 22 August. Before which there will be activity on the site in readiness for the reopening:
- Monday the 12th, Tuesday the 13th, Wednesday the 14th:
- Full assessment of the site
- Thursday the 15th:
- New fuel pump commissioning - site cleaning - fuel delivery
- Thursday the 15th to Wednesday the 21st:
- Thursday the 22nd:
Remediation work continues as set out in the road maps.
Thames Water are in discussion with Surrey County Council Highways in relation to the traffic management required for pipe replacement.
Openreach continue to vent and monitor their inspection chambers. The Openreach web page will be updated fortnightly.
As discussed last week we continue to assemble coordinated responses to the enquiries that we receive.
Friday 2 August Update
Following the meeting of the Recovery Coordinating Group (RCG) today (2 August 2024) please see an update in relation to the ongoing work in Bramley.
The road maps from each organisations in relation to the planned works are available on the website. Bramley petrol contamination: Information and advice (waverley.gov.uk)
The Technical Working Group met this week and were able to report continuing good progress with remediation at the petrol station which continues to show signs of improvement in the ground water under the petrol station.
Monitoring is ongoing on and off site with plans progressing for the installation of further monitoring wells/boreholes.
Work is ongoing at St Catherines School, where Thames Water are working with Surrey Couty Council Highways to finalise plans to complete the next phase of pipe replacement works.
You can view any planned road closures here Causeway one.network
Openreach continues to vent and monitor the vapour levels and are seeing a reduction in some areas due to the vapour extraction unit operating. At this point they need to see a sustained reduction to understand when they can inspect their network.
They are continuing to work closely with service providers to support them to offer alternative and temporary solutions, as well as identifying and protecting vulnerable customers affected. Their new landing page is live, updates, where available, will be published here: Update on fuel leak in Bramley, Surrey (openreach.com)
The Business Recovery Group and the Community Recovery group are meeting on Tuesday.
Asda will attend both meetings to discuss what support they can offer to businesses and the community.
We have received a number of questions this week both from the Bramley Business Network and the Bramley Residents Action Group which we will endeavour to answer next week at the Business Recovery and the Community Recovery group.
Friday 26 July Update
Following the meeting of the Recovery Coordinating Group (RCG) today please see an update in relation to the ongoing work in Bramley.
The Technical Working Group meet this week and were able to report continuing good progress to the RCG.
Thames Water reported that;
- They continue to work with St Catherine’s School and are looking to replace a number of supply pipes that could be at risk.
- Normal routine testing and monitoring of the water supply continues as normal across the rest of Bramley.
Openreach reported that:
- They have begun venting their chambers and continue to monitor the vapour levels and are seeing a reduction in some areas
- At this point they need to see a sustained reduction to understand when they can inspect our network
- They are continuing to work closely with their service providers to support them to offer alternative and temporary solutions, as well as identifying and protecting vulnerable customers affected
- The new Openreach in Bramley webpage will be available from Monday 29 July .
Asda reported that:
- They will attend the next Business Recovery Group meeting, to discuss what support they can offer businesses
- They will continue to work with the Environment Agency to further develop the roadmap and share progress with the RCG and keep it updated on the Council’s website.
All members of the RCG are committed to clear communications with everyone impacted by this incident. I am aware this week that we and partners have received a number of different requests for information and a number of similar requests to a number of different partners all of which we have endeavoured to answer. In order to manage this process, to avoid duplication of effort in answering queries, ensure consistency and to ensure that everyone receives the best available information going forward we would ask that all such requests are from now on directed through the Recovery Coordination Group, addressed to either Helen (helen.barnsley@waverley.gov.uk) or myself (richard.homewood@waverley.gov.uk). We will then be able to ensure the appropriate agency or company provides the information and that we can collate responses for future use in answering similar enquiries.
The recovery roadmaps from Asda, Thames Water and Openreach which were discussed at the recent public meeting will shortly be available on the Waverley Borough Council Web pages Bramley petrol contamination: Information and advice (waverley.gov.uk) We will circulate the link to the page as soon as the website is available.
As explained above please address any questions or concerns to myself or Helen and we will ensure that you get a response from the most appropriate agency / company.
Friday 19 July Update
Following the meeting of the Recovery Coordination Group (RCG) today please see below an update of the work in Bramley.
It was really good to see so many people at the public meeting this week. We hope it demonstrated that everyone in the recovery coordinating group is committed to improving communication with the community and businesses. We also hope the updates provided by Asda, Openreach and Thames Water helped everybody understand the scale of work that has been going on in the background further demonstrated everybody’s commitment to enable the village and their operations to return to business as usual as soon as possible. Further discussions are underway to agree how the community and businesses can best engage in the recovery process and a further update on this will be provided as soon as possible.
The Technical Working Group has also met this week and were able to report positive progress from partners to the RCG.
Thames Water reported that:
- The Do Not Drink advice has been lifted for all properties with the exception of St Catherine’s School. They continue to work closely with the school to resolve the issue but due to the complicated pipework it is taking longer to resolve
- they are continuing to carry out testing across their network
- Next week they will start work to replace pipework on four streets where there is a heightened risk of contamination due to the material of the existing pipe. They will start by digging trial holes to understand the extent contamination and risk and the work needed to mitigate that risk.
Openreach have advised that:
- This week they have continued to work with the Highways Authority and street works are now in place and signed off.
- Testing of vapour concentrations continues, and they are still finding unsafe levels - in their underground chambers – in the area serviced by Bramley Exchange.
- They are still unable to carry out engineering works, and continue to monitor service impacted by faults and remain committed to working closely with their Communication Provider (CP) customers who’ve been encouraged to provide alternative and temporary networks where they’re required, and it is possible.
- Their environmental experts are also beginning to extract vapours from our infrastructure this week. This is the first step in their plan of recovery.
- They will continue to update timelines on recovery as they have more information.
- If any residents have any concerns or queries, please feel free to contact bramley-incident@openreach.co.uk
Asda have advised that:
- Their consultants showed their off-site remediation plans, their modelling of water table levels and possible extent of contamination on the basis of borehole sampling results at the public meeting.
- They are looking at ways of sharing more data in future.
- They are continuing to monitor water table levels and levels on contamination
- They are looking to increase the number of boreholes available for sampling.
The Businesses and Economic Recovery Working Group meeting took place in the morning on the 16 July to further understand the impact on businesses and explore what support might be offered to businesses going forward. There are a number of actions from the group which we are working through including:
- Offering 1-2-1 communications to those on the high street who need it
- To assess the possibility of lobbying collectively for support such as business rates relief
- To investigate business support and promotional opportunities for Bramley businesses
- Look at possibility of moving signs/wider signage to make it clear that Bramley is open.
- Any ongoing highways works to be communicated and coordinated, and night time works preferred.
- Engaging with Asda to explore how they might help businesses
Long Term Health Impacts of long-term, low-level exposure to h of long-term, low-level exposure to hydrocarbons
At the public meeting on Tuesday evening, a question was asked in relation the impact of long-term, low-level exposure to hydrocarbons. Please find the response below from the UK Health Security and their assessment of public health risk is low.
UKHSA’s advice and public health risk assessment has remained consistent throughout the course of the incident and remains the same to date.
Those in the affected area who have drunk water from the tap are likely to have only been exposed to hydrocarbons at low levels which is unlikely to cause any long term ill effects.
The public health risk assessment is that the detectable level of petroleum products in the water is very low, which means you would be able to smell it in the water and are therefore unlikely to drink it, this reduces potential exposures and the risk of adverse health effects. The World Health Organization (WHO) produces international norms on water quality and human health in the form of guidelines that are used as the basis for regulation and standard setting world-wide. These are based on lifetime exposure and considering vulnerable groups. The levels of sampled hydrocarbons to date are below WHO drinking water guidelines and therefore it is unlikely to present a risk to health.
A further update will be issued next week.
Friday 12 July Update
Following the meeting of the Recovery Coordination Group (RCG) today please see below an update of the work in Bramley.
The Technical Working Group has also met this week and were able to report positive progress to the RCG.
Thames Water have confirmed that the 'do not drink' notices have been lifted from Bramley Oak School and further testing is being carried out at Gosden House School. The situation is more complex at St Catherines. We are advised that the restriction of use will be lifted for the Prep School only. The rest of the school remains on an independent tanked supply while further investigation is carried out.
Openreach have advised that in the recent weeks, their focus has been on working in partnership with SCC Highways on the relevant street works permit requirements and are progressing with agreed changes to minimise any disruption to Bramley residents. These revised arrangements and set up will allow them to proceed with further testing and removing petrol vapour from the Openreach underground network, as of next week. At present, testing of vapour concentrations by expert contractors continues to find unsafe levels in their infrastructure in the area serviced by the Bramley Exchange. Given this, no engineering work can be undertaken at present – they are closely monitoring any service impacting faults and engaging with service providers to provide alternative and temporary network arrangements when required. If any residents have any concerns or queries, please feel free to contact bramley-incident@openreach.co.uk
Asda and their consultants are refining their off-site remediation plans with the Environment Agency and are revising their 3D modelling of water table levels and possible extent of contamination on the basis of borehole sampling results.
Waverley BC will be meeting with businesses again on 16 July to further understand the impact on businesses and explore what support might be offered to businesses going forward.
A Public Meeting is being held at the Bramley Village Hall at 6.30pm on Tuesday 16 July. Representatives from Asda, Thames Water and Openreach will be attending along with representatives from the Environment Agency and Waverley Borough Council. Asda’s Chairman, Lord Rose will chair the meeting and Asda will give a presentation on the work they have been doing and their evolving off-site remediation plans. Thames Water and Openreach will also give an update on progress with the work they have been doing.
Friday 5 July Update
Following the meeting of the Recovery Coordination Group today, please see below an update of the work in Bramley.
There were two other meetings this week. An inaugural meeting of the Business and Economy Recovery Working Group (BERWG) and a meeting of the Technical Recovery Working Group (TRWG).
The BERWG is focussing on the impact on businesses and what can be done to mitigate it and to help businesses recover from that impact and was an opportunity for local businesses to express their concerns etc. The meeting was constructive and moving forward will be looking to establish a business network to represent the interests of businesses going forward. A further meeting is planned, and additional local businesses are being invited.
The TRWG focussed on the development of ‘road maps’ setting out the proposed programmes of work for the different companies involved.
- Asda and their consultants EPS are developing a detailed off site remediation road map for monitoring levels of groundwater and contamination off site and steps to remediate. They are working closely with the Environment Agency on this. At the same time, they are monitoring levels of groundwater and contamination at their boreholes around the High Street and are continuing the work on site to extract and treat groundwater.
- Thames Water have completed the water mains replacement and have now lifted the Do Not Drink order for the residential properties. Bottled water distribution to residential properties has ceased and as letters were delivered residents were asked if they had any water they wanted to return. A final extra recycling collection will be made this Saturday to collect any remaining plastic water bottles. They are working with the schools to ensure the complex pipe networks on these sites are flushed completely before considering lifting the DND /order on the schools.
- As of Wednesday 3 July, Telecommunications network provider Openreach has analysed the current impact and, at this moment, the direct impact on local phone and broadband services is limited. Openreach, along with specialist environmental consultants, OHES (part of Adler & Allan), are now working outside Grange Cottages and near to the Holy Trinity Church, where there are underground access points to its network. These points have particularly high petrol contamination, so attempts are being made to reduce the concentrations to levels which are safe enough for engineers to access. This process is unique and complex, so work needs to proceed with caution, and it is unclear how long it will take. Openreach hope to give a clearer indication of its position and further next steps over the coming weeks. Masts have already been deployed to help with mobile coverage. There is still cellular coverage in the area, but masts should help reinforce coverage. Mobile dongles are being issued by providers for additional bandwidth.
- There have been issues this week with traffic management in the High Street because pedestrians were not following the directions to use the pelican crossings and two-way traffic lights had to be re-introduced. Following a site meeting on Thursday alternative arrangements were agreed and are being implemented now which will negate the need for daytime traffic lights. Overnight restrictions will still be needed however whilst Openreach carry out their work, but these should be less disruptive to traffic.
A recurring theme this week has been that more communication is required from all partners with the community and businesses. As part of this a public meeting involving partners has been suggested which we will be looking to take forward. We have also committed to issue this weekly update after the RCG meeting on Fridays. I am also meeting representatives from the Bramley Residents Action Group (BRAG) next week to explore other ways of improving communication and keeping the community informed going forward.