New Ferry explosion victims 'appalled' by lack of help from Wirral Council

The blast, in March 2017, destroyed homes and businesses, leaving locals in a state of shock. The damage was so severe that some had to live in temporary accommodation for as long as two years.

In total the explosion injured 81 people, forced 83 residents to leave their homes and 32 businesses to close.

To voice the grievances of those affected, a campaign group called Justice for New Ferry was set up in March of this year.

The main aims of the group are to highlight what they see as the council’s slow response to the event and to make sure the same mistakes can’t happen again.

Ann Grimes runs the Cleveland Arms, a pub on Bebington Road which was devastated by the blast, and she helped to set up the group.

She said: "e had to close for six or seven months, it was pretty ridiculous. My landlord [who I lease the pub off] was only able to pay some of the bill to get it back up and running, I had to pay the rest."

But it was the emotional impact of the explosion that Ann was most passionate about.

Like many others, she had to vacate her home and find somewhere else to live, leaving her with two sets of bills to pay.

She said: "We have been through a great deal of heartache and we haven’t had the help we needed.

"We should have had specific, individual advice, legal advice on what to do because we had huge costs to pay and devastation to suffer after the explosion."

A source of real anger for campaigners was a council officer’s statement at a committee meeting on September 18 this year.

The officer said if people want one-to-one assistance with mental health issues arising from the incident they should contact their GP.

But several councillors said this does not work in practice, as few people will take it upon themselves to contact their GP after being involved in such a traumatic incident.

Many councillors said individuals should have been offered one-to-one advice, rather than having to request it.

Wirral Council said that a drop-in centre was open at the New Ferry community centre every day for two weeks following the explosion.

At the centre, general support was on offer, as well as just a place for people to gather to talk and share experiences.

There were also a range of specialists available for people to seek support or be directed to support for issues such as mental health, debt and housing advice.

In the public meetings that took place after the drop-in centre had been wound down, this support was offered again, with NHS England providing an opportunity for those affected by the explosion to receive prioritised referrals into counselling and other areas of psychological help.

Ann's account of the help Wirral Council offered was very different.

She said: "We met with council officials and gave them all of our details, but I've only had one or two phone calls in the two and a half years since the incident.

"There were public meetings held, but we needed one-to-one help to address our particular circumstances and that didn't happen.

"We wanted an emergency response phone number. Some sort of direct line to the council would have really helped us out."

Looking forward, Ann said: "We need to work together to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

"We don't want people to go through what we've been through.

"It makes you feel like crying."

Justice for New Ferry also take issue with the council's approach to compensating victims in the aftermath of the explosion.

They say the council claimed back money on people’s insurance where possible, but sent a bill to people who did not have insurance.

A very frightening prospect for someone looking to get their life back on track after such a traumatic event.

Wirral Council said the properties damaged were in the main private properties, but immediate work to secure the scene and secure people's properties and belongings, including putting up scaffolding and fencing, was carried out at the council's expense.

These measures stayed in place at residents and insurers' requests while repair works were carried out.

Where properties were insured, the council were able to claim back a proportion of that expense.

In the small number of cases where there was no insurance, the council came to individual arrangements with those people.

Having destroyed much of Bebington Road, the blast left the area in dire need of regeneration, but Justice for New Ferry believe that the council have done nowhere near enough to help New Ferry recover.

However, the group are keen to emphasise their determination to make a difference as well as protest the council's response.

Ann said: "We have set up a community land trust to help rebuild derelict areas near to where the explosion happened. We want to build a community garden to brighten up the area and get people coming in.

"We are looking for funding from charitable causes, because a lot of work needs to be done to improve the area.

"It has been abandoned by the council and as a result the footfall for traders in the area is appalling and it has become a magnet for illegal activity."

It was announced in July that residents and business owners would receive £1,600 each to help them recover.

Ann said that was the "bare minimum" victims should expect, but that it did not make up for the fact that several sites in the area affected have been left in an "appalling state" for two and a half years.

Ann is not demanding huge, costly work – she wants simple things such as buildings boarded up and wrapped in an attempt to tidy up the area and deter criminals from using it.

She said the situation has improved since the local elections in May but criticised the perceived lack of action up until that point.

On the issue of regeneration, Wirral Council said the vast majority of properties affected are privately-owned, which complicates the issue, but there is a long-term regeneration plan for New Ferry.

This is being supported by the government, through Homes England, and through a £1.3 million investment from the council, which will allow them to buy up many privately owned properties, speeding up regeneration.

New Ferry is also on the shortlist for the government’s Future High Streets fund, there has also been funding earmarked from the Liverpool City Region.

Wirral Council has also cleaned-up of parts of the area and some landscaping and planting is taking place to create a new green space.

Going forward, a key demand of Justice for New Ferry is to have a meeting with council leaders, where a plan can be drawn up to ensure victims get better treatment following any future disaster.

The final area of complaint from Justice for New Ferry are their perceptions of ‘mixed messages’ from the council on whether they declared an emergency incident at the time of the blast.

According to the group, the council officer who dealt with the initial phase of the incident, said "with hindsight I would have declared an emergency", but has subsequently said an emergency was declared by the council.

The officer told a council committee last month that a “battle rhythm” was established to deal with the explosion, but the group said this was an inappropriate way to deal with an incident of this nature and was more suited to dealing with a military situation.

Crucially, Justice for New Ferry believe Wirral Council’s apparent failure to declare an emergency meant the government did not feel the need to stop in and provide assistance, as the incident was not serious enough.

Wirral Council said the fire service have confirmed that they declared a major incident within 45 minutes of the blast.

Meetings also took place throughout the night to assess the situation.

A Multi Agency Tactical Co-ordinating Group (TCG) meeting, sometimes referred as a Silver Meeting, was conducted on scene at 22.30, 23.30 and ran hourly during the dynamic phase of the incident.

Additionally, a Multi Agency Strategic Co-ordinating Group (SCG) meeting was held at 09.00 the next morning at the Joint Fire and Police Command and Control Centre in Bootle, where strategic objectives were agreed and future priorities established.

On the issue of whether the council declared an emergency immediately after the incident, Wirral Council said the officer referred to by Justice for New Ferry handed over the council’s handling of the incident to the recovery team within about 36 hours of the explosion.

In the committee meeting on September 18, the officer confirmed the details of the fire service’s response referred to in the above paragraphs.

The only deviation is that the officer said Gold Command [the council’s emergency response] was not established in the ‘traditional’ sense (which is away from the scene at command and control centre) straight away because all of the Gold Commanders were in attendance at the scene dealing with it directly.