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Fleetwood Civic Society |
Raw Sewage on the Fylde Coast Beaches
The Fylde Coast Tunnel
This tunnel is owned by United Utilities and carries sewage from Blackpool , Cleveleys and Fleetwood to their sewage works for treatment.
This sewage treatment works is situated on Jameson Road , Fleetwood, adjacent to the Wyre Estuary and would appear to be less than 1 mile from the nearest proposed gas storage cavern.
This separation distance has had to be estimated due to the lack of detail provided by Canatxx on the positioning of the caverns beneath the Wyre Estuary but it may be much closer than anticipated.
If gas escaped from any of the caverns, which will be amongst the shallowest UGS caverns anywhere in Europe, and after migrating through the ground the gas entered the Fylde Coast Tunnel, the gas would mix with air to form an explosive mixture which could be transmitted along the tunnel into the centres of Blackpool, Cleveleys and Fleetwood and then into the local sewers which connect to residential and commercial propertie s along the length of the Fylde Coast.
Such an event would almost certainly affect the operation of the treatment works itself, which might have to be stopped until the situation was declared safe and this could be days or weeks later. This cessation would probably cause a knock-on effect with the discharge of untreated sewage directly into the sea just 1,000 metres off the coast of Blackpool , Fylde and Wyre for a sustained period until the situation was normalised.
This issue does not seem to have been previously addressed by either this or any previous Canatxx application, possibly because of the thought that:-
“Surely this couldn't happen here? ”
“The developers must have considered this scenario and done a full risk management assessment on it?”
The answers to the above are that “ Yes ” it could happen here and “ No ” the developers, Canatxx, do not appear to have done any risk assessment on it – if they had, they would surely have presented it to the LCC Planners.
Far from being a doomsday scenario it is a possibility and we suggest that the most serious and catastrophic accidents have occurred when the unthinkable wasn't questioned.
This lack of risk assessment would appear to fall in line with what we perceive to be the currently demonstrated Canatxx ‘Titanic' style of thinking and modus operandi where the company says that the proposed UGS site will not allow gas to escape and thereafter those connected with Canatxx don't seem to question the situation any further.
If Canatxx perpetuates its claim that there is no risk of gas escape then they presumably use this stance to avoid undertaking any risk assessment
Protect Wyre Group suggests that a comprehensive regime of risk assessments has not been carried out as it would most likely show the proposal will present unacceptably high level of risks to humans and the environment and thus be in contravention of various laws of the land.
A key to this element of the Canatxx proposal is the absolute identification of the location, form and characteristics of the Burn Naze Fault.
Neither Canatxx nor the British Geological Survey has done this with any accuracy to date.
The Burn Naze Fault is thought to run below the River Wyre but equally the fault could be further west under the Fleetwood Marsh and adjacent to the Fleetwood Treatment Works and if so, then the worst case scenario if a gas escape occurred exists.
We have urged LCC to put the question to Canatxx and not to be put off with the platitude that COMAH will take care of it and to halt any further progression of this scheme until all the proper evaluations and risks assessments have been undertaken.
Download the Fylde Coast Tunnel extract from the PWG report to LCC