Our picturesque seaside town with ‘world’s most expensive homes’ is ruined by oil spill… we fear houses will lose value
WEALTHY residents of posh Sandbanks are terrified the Poole Harbour oil spill has crashed their house prices.
Around six tonnes of reservoir fluid bubbled into the Dorset harbour on Sunday after a pipeline incident.
Members of the public have been warned not to swim in the water while environmentalists said birds had been covered in the 200 barrels of oil.
By Monday, there had been a “60-70 per cent reduction” in slick sightings on the water, managers Poole Harbour Commissioners said.
Despite this, residents of Sandbanks – home to some of Britain’s wealthiest and where one street has 13 waterfront mansions totalling £93 million – are terrified.
Helen Dines had just enjoyed a meal at swanky Rick Stein’s when she said the oil spill could devalue properties if it wasn’t cleaned up.
The 59-year-old property manager who lives in neighbouring Lilliput, said: “We don’t want this here because this is a tourist area and we go out in our boats.
“This could devalue the tourist trade and even properties here if it is not cleaned up quickly.”
The 85 per-cent water and 15 per-cent oil mix leaked from nearby Wytch Farm’s pipes, Western Europe’s largest on-shore oil field run by Perenco.
And businessman Rob Wylie can see the site of the spill from his £10m harbourside mansion and reckons the chance of oil dousing his property was “quite high” thanks to the tides.
The 53-year-old said: “I haven’t seen any oil around my property yet but I can see the area where the leak happened from my house and it does concern me that it could come here.
“I would imagine it is going to come this way, I’m definitely concerned about the impact, especially at this time of year.
“Obviously it would be inconvenient and not very nice to have oil coming onto our property.”
But he said he was more concerned about the effect on marine life if the spill was not cleared up properly, noting how oil is floating under the water, not just on the surface.
‘VERY CONCERNING’
The spill has left “plenty of pollution” floating around the exclusive peninsula, North Haven Yacht Club said yesterday.
They added: “It is very concerning to everyone in Sandbanks as there was a considerable amount of pollution.
“You just have to hope that the various organisations involved in the clean up are doing their best to clean all the oil up.”
While Norman Allenby-Smith, chairman of the Sandbanks Community Group, added: “The community has been watching very closely and our major concern is the effect on the wildlife here and the beaches.”
Bob Lister, chairman of the Poole Beachhut Association, said Perenco should compensate the paddleboarding businesses in Sandbanks for a loss of earnings while watersports groups are told to stay out of the polluted water.
While resident Richard Dart, 47, an investor, noted: “If there is good weather at Easter it’s the first time you see the beaches really busy, so it would be a shame if they are still closed because of the spill.”
This could devalue the tourist trade and even properties here if it is not cleaned up quickly
Helen Dines, resident
The Sun have approached a number of estate agents on Sandbanks with concerns raised by residents over property prices.
Paul Andrews of Sandbanks Property said: “The impact will hopefully be short term and because of this I am confident that house prices will remain stable.”
A statement from Perenco said: “There has been a limited oil leak at one of its well sites in its Wytch Farm operations in Dorset.
“Perenco UK’s incident management team was activated immediately, the leak was stopped and booms deployed as an additional containment to protect Poole Harbour.
“Perenco UK is working closely with the relevant authorities and a clean-up operation is under way.”
