Summary Record of the Winchester Underground Gas Plot - Trust Annual Report 1968
In the spring/summer 1961 the Winchester welkin was rent in sundry places by the continuous clatter of what could on some sort of pile-driving machinery.
No announcement was made by any authority as to the nature and purpose of those operations. In the case of a set-up near St. Cross, for instance, the workmen referred enquiries to the foreman, who merely stated that these were exploratory borings (and nothing to do with secret military projects or oil-piping from Fawley Esso etc.) such as his firm, a North country or midland specialist concern, had already done in E. Anglia and elsewhere.
Towards the end of the year it was suddenly revealed that the Gas Council had arranged for the presentation to Parliament of a private The Gas (underground storage) (Chilcomb) Act 1962, copies of which were duly deposited inter alies at the offices of the City and County Councils about 20th November, 1961. This Bill sought to give the Gas Council extensive powers for the acquisition and exploitation above and below ground of selected property in the Urban and Rural areas of Winchester for the storage of gas, under two categories: Green area for immediate use and Pink area as reserve or supplementary zone.
On 30th November owners and occupiers of property in the St. Cross area within 500 yards of the Pink area in that vicinity received a notice relating to this Bill under Standing Order 17 (no such notice being, however, received in the case of local properties actually within the designated areas).
The Pink area, it transpired on examination of the plans, impinged upon the sites of St. Cross Hospital, and also of Winchester Cathedral and Winchester College. Public Notice of the Bill with details was published in the local press, e.g. Hampshire Chronicle of 1st December, 1961. This only confirmed public anxiety as to the implications of the Gas Council's intent.
At a meeting on 6th December, 1961 the Winchester City Council decided not to oppose the main principle of the Gas Council's pilot scheme for the underground storage of gas in an area of about 3,500 acres at Chilcomb, on the outskirts of the city, but expressed concern about an additional area, spreading under the South-eastern sector of the city, which the Gas Council had nominated as an additional storage zone which might be needed in the future, and decided therefore to oppose the demand for the use of land under the built-up area of the city (see Report in Hampshire Chronicle, 9th December, 1961).
At about this date a number of Winchester residents and organisations likely to be affected received formal R.S.V.P. invitation cards from the Chairman of the Gas Council to a meeting at Guildhall on the evening of 13th December at which details of the Bill for the underground storage of gas in the Chilcomb area would be explained. At this meeting, which was well attended by 'land and property owners, representatives of public and private organisations' (Southern Evening Echo, 14th December) it was evident that public disquiet had in no degree been assuaged, despite the display of explanatory diagrams etc. On the contrary opposition was forcefully and expertly voiced.
At a public meeting convened by the City Council on 29th January, 1962 in Guildhall a crowded audience endorsed the City Council's purpose to oppose the Bill through community and parliamentary means. Consequently a humble petition in the name of the Mayor, Alderman, and Citizens of Winchester was formally drawn up for submission to the House of Commons, and the support of the Member of Parliament, Mr. Peter Smithers, sought and obtained. It appeared, incidentally, during the discussions at this public meeting that the Gas Council had asked for and obtained the City Council's authorisation to undertake the trial borings, and that the City Council had also acceded to the Gas Council's request that the purpose of the said initial exploratory operations should not be disclosed.
The combined efforts of the M.P., who energetically and effectively canvassed support among his colleagues of all parties, the Corporations and citizenry of Winchester, the Warden and Fellows of Winchester College etc. and press publicity won the day and the Bill was withdrawn before its second reading.
In the spring of 1965 a comprehensive and extensive Gas Bil with nation-wide application was presented to Parliament to authorise underground storage, subject to certain safe-guar in any area where the geological formation was known to be suitable. It passed its Third Reading as The Gas Act 1965 in May of that year.
In connection with the subterranean course of the Chilcomb Gas Bill the following extract from the report of relevant parliamentary proceedings from The Times of 20th February 1962 is not without interest: (Mr. Smithers asked the Minister for Power, Mr. Woods) 'whether any assurance was given to the Minister by the Gas Council that consulations had taken place with the Winchester City Council and with other bodies or persons directly affected when application was made to him by the council for his consent to promote the bill. Mr. Wood. No'.