Twenty years after one of Britain’s worst industrial incidents, new residents are continuing to move into homes near the site of the Buncefield explosion, with several saying they did not initially know about the blast.
The explosion at the Buncefield oil depot in Hemel Hempstead on 11 December 2005 was the biggest in the UK since World War Two and injured 43 people.
Thousands of new homes are planned in the area, including at Beaumont Manor and Swallowfields, along with further development under the Hemel Garden Communities programme. The Health and Safety Executive introduced proximity zones after the disaster, and Dacorum Borough Council states that all nearby planning applications follow that guidance.
The incident began on a cold Sunday morning when a vapour cloud ignited with the force of 30 tonnes of TNT. The blast, shortly after 06:00 GMT, was heard as far away as the Netherlands. It was described by Hertfordshire’s chief fire officer as “the largest incident of this kind in peacetime Europe”. Evacuations followed as thousands left their homes, and shelters opened in village halls and leisure centres. The fire burned for five days and the plume of smoke was visible from space.
Sue Ferguson, who moved to Woodhall Farm in 1983, remembers having concerns from the start. “We actually had a conversation and we wondered what would happen if Buncefield ever went up,” she says. “Our conclusion was that we probably wouldn’t know much about it because we’d be wiped off the face of the earth, so it would be quick and painless.” When the explosion did occur, she recalls looking out to see “this massive ball of flame” and thinking “it was another Lockerbie” because her home sits under the Luton flight path.
New estates continue to appear near the depot, which still operates on a reduced scale. Swallowfields began construction a decade after the explosion. Resident Farish Lakhani says he “wasn’t really aware of” the event before moving in. “We drove past it every day and then it triggered a memory,” he says. “Nothing was mentioned when we bought the house. It was down to us to look at the local area.”
Zafar Shaikh, who put down a deposit for his home in 2017, says, “We found out about Buncefield during our research before moving in.” He feels the safeguards now in place address earlier risks, adding, “It was a big thing, absolutely, but given the safety precautions now and the time that’s passed, we were OK to move here.” He believes the chances of a similar incident are “very slim” and calls it “a one-off incident”.
At Beaumont Manor, even closer to the depot, Cristina Apopei says she is relieved she did not hear about the explosion before buying. “If you hear something like that before you move in, you’ll think twice,” she says. The developer, Vistry, states, “Beaumont Manor is outside the Buncefield no-build zone but within the HSE’s consultation distance. The land was thoroughly examined and the HSE did not raise any objections.” Ms Apopei still feels developments “should be pushed a little bit away” from the site.
Some remain concerned that the events of 2005 may fade from public memory. David Herring, a former police community support officer who responded on the day and is now a Reform UK county councillor, describes it as “one of the most awful days that I’ve ever experienced and an absolute miracle that the people who were affected weren’t killed”. He adds, “If it happens again once these estates are finished, I can’t imagine what would happen.”
Swallowfields includes 357 homes and Beaumont Manor will add 600 more across two phases. Both form part of the wider Hemel Garden Communities plan to deliver up to 11,000 new homes by 2050. Andrew Cook, whose Fujifilm Electronic Imaging site was heavily damaged, warns, “There are now thousands of houses that are going to be nearby and there is a danger that in 20 years’ time, 30 years’ time, everybody’s forgotten about the risk and it happens again.”
Dacorum Borough Council says developments continue to be shaped by official risk guidance. “We have worked in line with updated guidance from the HSE and other relevant bodies to ensure land use planning reflects lessons learned,” a spokesperson says. “All planning applications in the vicinity of Buncefield have been assessed against this guidance, and risk considerations have been central to decision-making. Developments such as Swallowfields and Beaumont Manor were determined in accordance with these requirements, ensuring compliance with national safety standards. We remain fully committed to prioritising safety in all planning decisions to protect our community now and in the future.”
