Frustration as lingering stench of oil still plagues south Shropshire market town a week after leak

Last Friday, the people of Bishop's Castle noticed a strange stench in the air.

Residents said there was a strong smell of kerosene around Bull Street. A utility company was sent to the scene as was the Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Fire crews said the fumes were caused by a heating oil supply leaking into a property and they had stemmed the source of the leak.

Councillor Ruth Horton said the fumes had continued all week and she had fears for the watercourse in the town.

She said: “We are very concerned that we don't have a coordinated approach to finding out where the source of the oil is.

“It's following through drains and into someone's cellar, it's ending up in the drainage system and ultimately, in the watercourse.

“We have a dentist here who is unable to operate a full service because of the smell of fumes."

She said Butler and Finnegan had lost five days of work over the leak and was only taking on emergency patients.

The Market Square dentist said it had lost a week's revenue over the leak and had seen specialists called out to try to clear the stench of kerosene.

Shropshire Council said the source of the leak had since been stemmed and told householders to contact their insurers.

A spokesperson said: “Officers from the Environmental Protection Service at Shropshire Council are aware of reports of a kerosene type smell in Bishops Castle. Following these reports, two officers visited on Tuesday to try to help identify a cause of the problem.  

“It appears that a property uphill from those currently affected has had a recent leak from their heating oil tank and this was only stopped a few days ago.  It is likely that this has caused a small plume of heating oil to travel underneath the property and downhill towards others.

“There has also been some signs of heating oil in drains in the immediate locality, and this will likely be from the oil finding a crack or poor joint and communicating with the drain.

“Responsibility for such matters rests with the owners of the properties affected. Advice has been given to contact home insurance or similar and the normal course of events in these circumstances, which are sadly not particularly uncommon where there is widespread use of heating oil, is for insurance loss adjusters to appoint specialist contractors who investigate the extent of the spill and the source. They then arrange for appropriate clean up and recover costs from the source premises.

“Shropshire Council has no legal responsibility over this matter but we have nonetheless been assisting in the circumstances and have provided advice as above.”