June 2021: Last Chance to Save Our Park
Esso have updated their plans and we have one last chance to save our park.
How can Esso dig a 1.5 metre deep trench this close to the Fairy Tree and put a 30 cm pipe in it? We keep asking and they won’t say.
Esso now want to dig their pipeline trench further from the path, closer to the trees. This puts our trees at greater risk. The Fairy Tree is more endangered than ever before because the trench is much closer to its trunk.
Esso have made a change to their working area to save trees in Farnborough Hill School grounds and at the Cody Technology Park. We have asked them to change their working area in the park but they have refused. UPDATE (23rd June 2021): Esso actually adjusted their working area at the beginning of the Planning Inspectorate’s examination, in 2019.
We said Esso’s plans for installing the pipeline under the A325 were unworkable. We were right. Esso has now scrapped those plans and adopted the method we said would work: Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD).
We still want Esso to use HDD throughout the park, not just to cross the A325. This means there is no need for a trench and the trees will be safe. There is no reason why Esso cannot change their working area and drill under the entire park. UPDATE (23rd June 2021): Although we can ask, it is unlikely to be possible for Esso to change their working area now.
What To Do Now
There are three things that everyone can do:
- Object to the new Site Specific Plan
- Write to Tim Sunderland at Esso and ask him to use HDD throughout the park
- Email your MP, Leo Docherty, requesting that he asks Tim Sunderland to change his plans
Don’t worry, these are all easy to do and it could make a big difference. Here’s what to do:
1. Object to the Site Specific Plan
When: By Friday 25th June
Where: On the Rushmoor Borough Council website
- You will need to provide your name and address.
- Under Stance, select Object
- Under Reason for comment, select Loss of trees, Unacceptable design or appearance, and Visual harm
In Your Comment, write your own comment or use the text below:
I object to the new Site Specific Plan because the new position of the trench is more damaging to the trees than the previous one. Esso still have not explained how the pipe will be installed in the trench without damaging tree roots.
Trenching has always been a bad option but recent changes to Esso’s plans, where HDD is used at the A325 end of the park are a step in the right direction. It would be better to use HDD throughout the park, if a way can be found to do this.
2. Write to Tim Sunderland at Esso
Tim Sunderland is the Project Executive for the Southampton to London Pipeline Project. He is simply not willing to put the engineering effort into doing the right thing in the park. His team claimed that drilling beneath the park is not possible despite expert evidence to the contrary and despite now using it in areas where they originally refused to.
Sunderland’s team also claim they can’t adjust the Order Limits to allow them to drill, but they have done precisely that in the neighbouring Farnborough Hill School. UPDATE (23rd June 2021): Changes were made at the beginning of the Planning Inspectorate’s examination.
Installing the pipe by drilling beneath the park is technically possible., both technically and within the granted Development Consent Order. The decision to do this rests with Tim Sunderland and he must change his mind.
You can write to him with these very simple requests:
[……Your Name……]
[……Your address……]
[……Date……]
Tim Sunderland
Southampton to London Pipeline Project Executive
Ermyn House
Ermyn Way
Leatherhead
Surrey
KT22 8UX
Dear Mr. Sunderland,
I am writing to you after learning about your latest plans for the installation of the Southampton to London through Queen Elizabeth Park. I have the following requests:
- Scrap the plan to dig a trench through the park.
- Devise a workable plan for using Horizontal Direction Drilling (HDD), or a variant of that technique, to install the pipe in the park.
- Negotiate any extra funding required for this approach within your organisation.
Your most recent plans move the trench closer to many trees in the park and they are more endangered because of this. Your Site Specific Plan still does not describe how you can install the pipe in the trench without damaging root systems.
We know that HDD is feasible within the park. In fact you have now adopted it for the last 50 metres within the park, beneath the A325 and into Farnborough Hill, despite previously saying it was not possible.
Esso / ExxonMobil is one of the world’s wealthiest companies. You and the company you work for have all the resources you need to install your pipeline without endangering the trees in Queen Elizabeth Park.
Please do not dig a trench through our park.
Yours sincerely,
[……Your signature……]
[……Your name……]
3. Email Your MP, Leo Docherty
Leo Docherty’s email address is leo.docherty.mp@parliament.uk. You can ask him to represent your views to Tim Sunderland.
Dear Mr. Docherty,
Esso have submitted updated plans for the Southampton to London Pipeline to Rushmoor Borough Council, which show a new route for the trench and pipe in Queen Elizabeth Park. Their new proposal is more damaging than the plans which were approved as part of the Development Consent Order.
In Esso’s new plans the pipeline trench has been moved further into the park, closer to the trees. This includes a change to move the pipeline even closer to the ‘Fairy Tree’.
Esso have also changed the method which will be used to install the pipe under the A325. The new plan is to use Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) within part of the park, under the A325 and into Farnborough Hill. Previously Esso said that HDD could not be used in the park.
I respectfully ask you to put the following requests to Tim Sunderland, Project Executive for the Southampton to London Pipeline Project:
- Scrap the plan to dig a trench through the park.
- Devise a workable plan for using Horizontal Direction Drilling (HDD), or a variant of that technique, to install the pipe in the park.
- Negotiate any extra funding required for this approach within Esso.
The recent changes to Esso’s plans show that they can find a better alternative to digging a trench through our park. Please do everything you can to achieve this outcome.
Yours sincerely
[……Your name……]