Sherborne fears major gas works

By [ganderson]

A LETTER warning of major gas works in Sherborne town centre beginning this week sparked panic among residents and traders.

Correspondence received from operations boss John Cake of Southern Gas Networks on Monday warned householders and business owners in Cheap Street they could face up to three weeks of disruption while work is undertaken to replace local gas mains.

It says work would begin anytime from yesterday to Friday 10 July, and informs recipients their gas supply could be affected and gardens and driveways may need to be excavated.

But Southern Gas Networks project manager Gavin Brown has admitted the letter did not properly explain that the imminent work was merely survey work.

Excavations may occur at some time in the future, however.

He said: "There is a scheme to replace the gas main all along Cheap Street from the junction to George Street to Long Street.

"We are hoping to go in there next week to determine what exactly we have got in terms of gas apparatus.

"Our records are not brilliant and we need to know exactly what we have in there before we can plan and programme these replacement works.

"When we have determined what the scope of the work is, then we will be sending out information explaining what needs to be done and the best way to achieve it.

"The work next week will be minor and fairly insignificant. We do not want to send the wrong message. It is not a very well-written letter and may start the alarm bells ringing a bit prematurely."

Mr Brown went on to say that Dorset County Council, as highway authority, and Sherborne Chamber of Trade and Commerce would be consulted before any major work began.

The letter, however, caused concern among traders who feared the work would hit business and interfere with deliveries.

Linda Kemp, owner of Abbey Fine China, said: "It sounds as if they are going to do a bit of preliminary work and then there is going to be a major disruption later on. It would have been nice if they could have put that in the letter.

"At the moment anybody is glad of any trade and people do not linger when there are roadworks going on because it is too noisy. We also get a lot of deliveries everyday, and they have to come down this high street.

"There has got to be consultation between all the traders about what they are doing. I just hope they will not destroy the high street for too long."

Peter Stone, owner of the Little Art Shoppe, said: "When they have done this sort of thing before it was just dead. It was like the street was out of bounds."

Andrew Maddock of Mid West Business Supplies said he also feared operational problems.

"We have to get our vans down here, so we are quite keen for them not to close the road. We would like there to be consultation with traders."

Utility firms this week came under fire from regulator Ofgem for their poor customer service.