Not much in the way of new money in £14m Buncefield recovery package.

Following his House of Commons debate last week Hemel MP, Mike Penning, and Dacorum Borough Council Chief Executive, Daniel Zammit, had a meeting with Local Government Minister, John Healey MP to discuss the promised £14million recovery package.

After the meeting, Mike Penning said:

“I have asked the Minister to put the detail of the package in writing, but I was deeply disappointed to learn that our worst fears were true in that hardly any of the £14m is new money. Most has been promised long ago anyway and much of it has unpalatable strings attached.

“We took the Minister at face-value during the debate that this was a new recovery package to regenerate the town and local area. But on examining the small print, we couldn’t find anything that hadn’t either been promised as part of the Maylands regeneration (and that was promised before the Buncefield explosion took place) or was money that we couldn’t have bid for even without Buncefield!

“Much of the money is conditional on the acceptance of an increase in housing numbers.

He continued:

”I’m afraid I see this as nothing short of a slap in the face for all those who were victims of this terrible explosion. Many local residents and small businesses have yet to receive compensation. They have been left bearing the costs of an explosion caused by super-rich oil companies.

“This sends all the wrong messages to the oil companies. They shouldn’t be allowed to just walk away and carry on with ‘business as usual’ before the victims have been fully compensated.”

Mike concluded:

“I will continue to demand justice and fair compensation for the victims of this disaster.”