It’s disappointing that the smell of oil still lingers in the south Shropshire market town a week after the spill

Last Friday people Bishop’s Castle He noticed a strange smell in the air.

Residents said there was a strong smell of kerosene around Bull Street. A utility company, Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, was also sent to the scene..

Fire crews said the smoke was caused by heating oil leaking into a property and they had identified the source of the leak.

Councilor Ruth Horton said the smoke had been persistent all week and she had concerns about the waterway in the town.

He said: “We are very concerned that we do not have a coordinated approach to finding where the oil is sourced.

“It travels down the drain into someone’s basement, ends up in the drainage system and eventually in the drain.

“We have a dentist here who cannot provide full service due to the smell of smoke.”

He said Butler and Finnegan lost five days of business because of the leak and were only accepting emergency patients.

A Market Square dentist said he lost a week’s income due to the leak and saw experts called in to remove the kerosene smell.

Shropshire Council said the source of the leak had since been identified and told homeowners to contact their insurance company.

A spokesman said: “Officers from Shropshire Council Environmental Protection Service are aware of reports of a kerosene-like odor at Bishops Castle. Following these reports two officers visited on Tuesday to help identify the cause of the problem.

“It appears that there was a recent leak of the heating oil tank at a property above those currently affected and this was stopped only a few days ago. “This is likely to have caused a small plume of heating oil to move below the property and onto others downhill.

“There are also some signs of oil being heated in nearby sewers and this could possibly be due to the oil finding a crack or poor connection and communicating with the sewer.

“Responsibility for such matters lies with the affected property owners. Advice has been given about contacting home insurance or similar and in these cases the normal course of events, which unfortunately are not uncommon where heating oil is widely used, is that insurance claims adjusters are specialists who investigate the extent of damage.” Spill and welding contractors. They then arrange for appropriate cleanup and reimbursement from the source facility.

“Shropshire Council has no legal responsibility for this matter but we have nevertheless assisted in the circumstances and provided advice as above.”