Heathrow Fuel Pipeline Project
Warnford Village
Southampton – London Pipeline Project
Update at 1st June 2018 –. The Parish did not receive any comments relating to this proposal and has therefore not submitted any to the project. Exxon Mobil has now confirmed that Corridor G is the preferred option. The next opportunity for comment will arise when the exact route for the pipeline is clarified in the autumn.
You are likely to have received a flyer in the post from the Southampton to London Pipeline Project. Most people probably don’t know that the Esso pipeline from Fawley refinery to Heathrow crosses a corner of Warnford parish. It was built in the 1960s and now needs renewal. The project website www.slpproject.co.uk gives information on what is proposed. It is worth noting that landowners affected should already have been contacted, that the new pipeline will not pass under any houses and that at its nearest it is nearly 1½ miles from the centre of Warnford.
Government has agreed that this should be considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and during 2018 Esso will be going through the process of finalising the route for the new pipeline using a national planning process called a Development Consent Order. This bypasses normal planning processes but involves two stages of consultation, the first in March/April and the second in the autumn. During the first stage they will present a “corridor” within which the new route will be created. During the second stage they will present the exact route being proposed.
You have the opportunity to comment on the project’s proposals, with a deadline of 30th April. There will be a further opportunity to comment in Autumn 2018 when the exact route will be proposed.
The official maps are quite hard to relate to local features in detail, so we have prepared a special one which shows the preferred route (Corridor G) as it passes through the Warnford area, imposed on the OS 1:25000 map. There is no alternative to Corridor G in our area. Please note that our map is not exactly accurate – you should refer to the official maps on the project website and ask the project for more detail if the exact shape of the corridor is important to you.
The existing pipeline comes up from Betty Mundy’s Bottom, crosses into Warnford parish at Lomer Farm, goes under Wheely Down Road and Kilmeston Road just west of Rooksgrove Farm and crosses the fields to pass from Warnford into Kilmeston parish behind Riversdown House. It then turns slightly north and crosses Blackhouse Lane and then Brockwood Bottom just west of Joan’s Acre, heading towards Bramdean.
The preferred route for the new pipeline follows the existing one from Lomer Farm as far as a point in Kilmeston parish just north of Riversdown House. The new corridor then diverges eastwards, widening out (because the exact route is less certain), passing south of Blackhouse Farm and crossing back into Warnford parish before turning north again and passing west of Brockwood Park towards Bramdean.
Construction is planned to start in 2021. This will involve trenching for the new pipe, with a working corridor for machinery about 20-30m wide created across the countryside (narrower in sensitive locations). Once the pipe has been installed the land will be restored as far as possible to its original condition, with reseeding, replanting of hedges etc etc.
All landowners through whose land the new pipeline will pass should already have received letters about it directly from Exxon Mobil.
Everyone in the Parish is now invited to look at the proposed route for the new pipeline to see whether they have any comments. This can be done in a number of ways. You can look on the project website www.slpproject.co.uk and/or or you can attend one of the local meetings – the ones near us are at Ropley on 11th April or Bishops Waltham on 20th April.
We may also respond as a Parish, based on any comments you make to us. Please send comments by email to the Parish Clerk. We have sets of documents which you can look at – please ask if you would like to see them.
Contact Information
Derek Chapman
Find Warnford Village
Warnford, Southampton, Hampshire, SO32 3LE