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    09

    Nov 2021

    Last Updated: 08/11/2021
    Community
    Community

    Harrogate gas leak: public meeting to be held

    by John Plummer

    | 09 Nov, 2021
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    The leak left 3,000 homes without gas for 48 hours. Northern Gas Networks says the meeting will 'take a deeper look' at the incident, which occurred when sub-contractors damaged a pipe on Ripon Road in Jennyfields.

    riponroadsized
    Part of Ripon Road is closed due to a gas leak.

    Northern Gas Networks is to hold a public meeting to discuss the recent leak that left 3,000 Harrogate homes without gas for 48 hours.

    Discussing the cause of the leak for the first time, the company said in a statement that sub-contractors had damaged the underground pipe on Ripon Road in Jennyfields, where roadworks were taking place.

    Gas supply to homes in the HG1, HG2, HG3 and HG4 areas was affected for two days from October 15 to 17. The Styan Community Centre in Jennyfields was converted into an emergency hub where residents could collect electric heaters and food vouchers.

    The statement added the company had informed the Health and Safety Executive, the government agency responsible for workplace safety, and "instructed an internal investigation to understand the full circumstances". No further details have been released.

    It said:

    "While the internal investigation is still ongoing, Northern Gas Networks can confirm that the gas pipe was damaged during essential gas mains replacement work which was being carried out by a specialist sub-contractor working on behalf of Northern Gas Networks.
    "In the coming weeks Northern Gas Networks will be hosting a public meeting and inviting customers and stakeholders to join Northern Gas Networks colleagues to reflect on the incident and take a deeper look at the events of that weekend.
    "The purpose of the meeting is to give customers the opportunity to share their feedback and for Northern Gas Networks to gather valuable insight to enable them to continue to improve their response."





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    John Richardson, customer operations director at Northern Gas Networks, said:

    “The safety of our engineers and members of the public is our priority and we are supporting the teams and contracting partners involved to ensure that we learn from what happened and put the appropriate measures in place so that safety is never compromised."


    Traffic lights on Ripon Road, which had been in place since early September while Northern Gas Networks completed engineering work to upgrade metal gas mains, were removed last weekend.