Buncefield Planning Applications
Last night I sat on Dacorum Council’s planning committee (Development Control) at which six planning applications from BP and British Pipeline Agency (BPA) were put before us. I and many other councillors spoke against the storage of petrol on the site especially because we are still waiting for official reports on why the Buncefield explosion happened & the lessons to be learned.
The applications were delegated with view to approval. This will allow the Council to negotiate with the two companies to iron out problems with the applications. Storage of Aviation fuel, which is far less flammable then petrol, will be allowed to re-start once negotiations are complete. New safety measures will be introduced including a fire fighting foam system in all tanks used by BP.
Allowing aviation fuel to be stored will alleviate the problems still being felt at Heathrow where there is not enough supply and storage to re-fuel aeroplanes properly.
Other companies that use the Buncefield site such as Total, Texaco etc. have not submitted planning applications yet to my knowledge. Unlike the Total/Texaco site, the BP site escaped with limited damage from the explosion.
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