East West Rail to delay digging plans around Bedford following incident on Cleat Hill

The East West Rail project has announced a delay in its plans to dig boreholes along the proposed railway line in Bedford Borough, following concerns raised by Cleat Hill residents and authorities over the safety of such operations.

A total of 50 households were evacuated on October 19 following a fatal house explosion and subsequent high levels of natural gas found in the area.

The source of the high concentration of gas was identified as a leak of an underground natural pocket of gas, hit in the installation of an underground heat pump earlier this year, evacuated through a borehole.

In July, a gas leaked had already caused the evacuation of some residents of the Cleat Hill area.

Evacuees who had been housed in temporary accommodation raised concerns over East West Rail plans to dig dozens of boreholes in the area.

Will Gallagher, Chief Strategy and Development Officer at East West Rail, explained the rationale behind borehole drilling, and said: "The reason we do these ground investigation surveys, so drill the boreholes, is so that we can understand the ground conditions so that whether it’s digging cuttings or making embankments, we can take what we know about the ground conditions into account.

"It has a really material impact, so it’s very important that we do these investigations."

However, Mr Gallagher acknowledged the sensitivity of the situation, given the explosion on Cleat Hill two months ago, which resulted in the deaths of two individuals and the evacuation of 50 households.

To address these concerns, East West Rail has imposed a three-month moratorium on borehole drilling in the Bedford Borough area.

Mr Gallagher said: "We have taken the decision, taking on board local feedback, that we won’t do any, we won’t drill any boreholes in the whole of the Bedford Borough area for the next three months, so we won’t start until March.

"That will give us the opportunity to work with the local authority, work with geotechnical experts, and the local community to demonstrate that the approach that we are taking is safe."

The mayor of Bedford Borough, Tom Wootton, also weighed in on the decision, expressing his concerns about the initial plans.

Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, he said: "In a meeting, we brought up Cleat Hill. We brought up the gas. We brought up that the digging boreholes in and around North Bedfordshire probably wasn’t a very good idea, seeing as what has just happened and the history of it and the tragedy that had occurred.

"Even East West Rail had to admit that it probably wasn’t a good idea to be digging boreholes along that same valley and to be very, very close to Cleat Hill.

"By then, the health and safety will be reporting back on what has happened, the coroner will have had their proceedings, and all those sort of things will be much clearer, and whether it’s wise or not to be digging holes in that valley, I’ll leave it up to wiser heads than I to judge."

Mr Gallagher reassured us that the planned boreholes are far less intrusive than the one associated with the Cleat Hill explosion.

"The boreholes that we’re proposing are nowhere near as deep. Our boreholes, on average, are 10 to 20 meters, whereas the borehole on Cleat Hill was over 100 meters. So what we’re doing is nowhere near as intrusive as the issue on Cleat Hill," he added.

The decision to pause borehole drilling comes amid continued monitoring and investigations into the Cleat Hill explosion.

Residents affected by the incident have begun returning home, and the community is preparing for further clarity following the coroner’s inquest next year.

An investigation continues.

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