Candidate meets with the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service Petrochemical Officer to discuss LNG storage safety issues 27th Sept 2007

Julian Ware-Lane, Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Castle Point, met up with Mark Samuels, Service Petrochemical Officer for Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, recently to discuss the proposed Liquefied Natural Gas storage on Canvey Island. 

Mr Samuels is the liaison between the petrochemical industry and the fire service in Essex. They had a full and frank discussion on the safety issues surrounding the proposed storage site. 

Mark Samuels said "Essex Fire Service is currently fully equipped to deal with any petrochemical risks in the county at the moment. LNG has different properties which require different equipment and skills. The Fire Service is looking to work in partnership with Calor to address the issues." He added "we currently have excellent relations with all petrochemical sites, including Calor". 

Julian Ware-Lane said that there are a number of concerns that have to be addressed: "I am worried that this site is in close proximity to the 40,000 residents of Canvey. The nearest residential property is only 150 yards from the site. I would have preferred the facility to be built in an area of low population." 

Julian also believes that the current road infrastructure is not good enough. "The emergency access via Northwick Road needs upgrading." 

"I think that Canvey residents want reassurances about the flood risk and what the impact any flood would be" said Julian "I also believe that we should have best practice rather than minimum standards as regards to safety."