Actually I have found the Ward Councillors (then Councillors Millican, Conti, and Mullins) very effective. I hope that the new package, Councillors Block, Driscoll, and the effective Millican continue this tradition.Here is my letter to Cadent.Mr Chris Train,CEO,Cadent Gas Ltd.,Ashbrook Court,Prologis Park,Coventry, CV7 8PEM.e-mail: chris.train@cadentgas.com25th August 2018,Dear Mr. Train,I know that you are a busy man with your reponsibility for the gas distribution network for the whole of the UK, however, I would be grateful if you could focus on one particular, small, area in London, that of the South Ealing Road. This starts as the Ealing Road by the Thames in Brentford, runs through South Ealing, becomes St Mary's Road, and eventually joins the Uxbridge Road in Ealing. I believe that the three gas mains that run up this road (two large lower pressure mains, and a very large medium pressure main) are probably among the oldest operating gas mains in the world. Unfortunately, their age is reflected in the scale of leaks and hence roadworks that we encounter in South Ealing.Hardly a day goes by without a new hole be opened up by your contractors to plug yet another leak. With that comes constant disruption and traffic delays. With the age of these victorian mains, and the scale and frequency of the leaks along the length of this road I cannot but wonder as to the safety of this particular section of the network.Perhaps it is time that Cadent replaced this ageing section of the network. As you know iron and steel (and especially cast iron) adsorbs the gas over time becoming increasingly brittle with age and exposure. As a result of this I do wonder if some of this very old gas mains are being basically held together by the clay in the soil around them.Not so long ago there was a very large repair project where the South Ealing Road joins the A4 which basically closed down about half of South Ealing and while about a dozen leaks where patched with rubber collars and epoxy I note that the mains have started leaking there again and the vent covers are back.Confidence is not high in Cadent in Ealing as the perpetual presence of manhy vent covers over manholes attest to an equivalent number of known but not repaired gas leaks. Particularly worring are manhole vent covers around the entrance of an infact/primary school on Little Ealing Lane, outside the YMCA (with its childcare centre with a nursery and creche) on St Mary's Road, and scattered around the entrance to South Ealing Tube Station which have been there for a long time and do not inspire confidence.What is more, the contractors and staff that you use to regularly dig up the South Ealing Road do not seem to have much respect for the residents of South Ealing and the damage which they are doing to the roads and pavements. For example, this morning, there were three trucks parked on the pavement outside the South Ealing Park (one of them from Cadent, and two from a company called Traffic Management Systems). These pavements are laid on sand and and are not designed for cars, let alone trucks, to mount them, drive on them or park on them, as they will damage them. What is more it is an offence to park on such a pavement in Ealing itself. I attach some photos of the vehicles concerned.I have brought the matter to the attention of the local councillors (to whom I have copied this letter) and made appopriate postings in the discussion Forum of the local news website, Ealing Today. I hope that you can find time in your no doubt busy schedule to review what is happening in South Ealing before anything serious and uncorrectable happens here.Thank you in anticipation of your attention to this matter,I remain,Yours sincerely,Mark Raymond,33 Creighton Road,Ealing,London, W5 4SH.P.s. I did have some unfruitful correspondance with your predecessor John Pettigrew (National Grid/Transco) and one of his senior staff, Matthew Jesson on this matter some time ago.
Mark Julian Raymond ● 2803d