4/11/2007

unexploded bombs - That reminds me of a story close to home


The news that there may be a number of unexploded bombs from World War Two on the site where they propose to build the Olympic park reminds me of a story of a local developer.

When the local councillor found out that an area earmarked for a large housing development had been the site of a failed German bombing raid in Wolrd War Two, and that the locals who remember the raid still remember how several of the bombs sank in to the very wet, almost marshy soil, of course the councillor told the council and the developer.

What happened to this information ? It was ignored and now a housing development has been built on the site, and no work was done at all to check for munitions,

I won't divulge where this development is for fear of upsetting the locals, but it isn't in Fakenham and it isn't where I live now either.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Tis true that all up the Thames there are patches of land and marshes that have never been cleared of UXB's from WW2.

As the german bombers came across from occupied Holland to bomb London, if they missed their targets, or were turned around by flak then they would drop their bombs to fly home empty, and the favourite places were the edge of the Thames.

This was discovered during Ted Heaths time, when the search began for London's 3rd Airport. So right along from the docks at silvertown and Wapping, right through to Tilbury, the length of Pitsea Marshes, along what is now the Oil Terminals at Coryton and Canvey Island, through Southend and onto the Maplin Sands which was the favourite place for the airport, all these places are still littered with UXB's.

Surveyers said that to clear the route for a high speed train link would be far to expensive and dangerous, and so Stansted was chosen instead.

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