Kirkby Lonsdale is to receive a £77,000 investment into its gas supply system to ensure the town is never left shivering in the cold again.

Following a gas cut on Sunday, January 5, when 710 people were left without gas amid sub-zero temperatures, pipeline managers Transco declared they would be installing a second pipeline.

"We decided this was the best way," said Simon Neate, Transco's head of network. "It's a £77,000 investment to make sure this doesn't happen again I think we have done everything we can."

In a special announcement to a Kirkby Lonsdale Parish Council meeting on Wednesday night, Mr Neate explained that the gas cut had been caused by faulty safety equipment and apologised for the inconvenience caused.

Mr Neate said the problem occurred in the town's pressure reduction unit where supply gas delivered at seven bar is reduced to a domestically manageable pressure of 48 millibars. But at about 5am on Sunday a safety device designed to cut the gas if the pressure gets too high malfunctioned and shut the gas off. The faulty kit also switched off a back-up device that should have ensured the supply was not stopped.

Engineers from across the North were drafted in to fix the problem and call on households to switch their gas on. Most homes had their heating back by 11pm on Sunday. But the device failed again on Monday prompting a second offensive to fix the supply and visits to more than 500 hundred homes to restore their gas. By Wednesday morning all but 54 homes were reconnected. "If it was electricity the lights would have just flickered but we can't just put the gas back on because of the pilot light situation," said Mr Neate.

To bypass the problem, Transco has decided to put in a back-up supply and will be laying down new pipes from along Bendrick Drive and Main Street from the A65. It hopes to piggy-back the work with United Utilities which is renewing electricity cables in the town in February.

As thanks for using Kirkby Lonsdale's Institute as an HQ during the crisis, Transco is donating £400 to its building fund for installation of disabled loos and an undisclosed sum to Queen Elizabeth School which also hosted workmen.

Transco is dealing with compensation claims from those left without gas on their individual merits.

l Ageing parts of Kirkby Lonsdale's electricity network are being retired next month as United Utilities carries out a £100,000 scheme to boost electricity supplies in the town. Overloaded cables dating back to the 1930s are to be renewed with modern, higher capacity wires from February 3. Work will progress along Main Street, New Road and Market Square and be finished by Easter. A spokesperson from United Utilities said the company would work with Transco, which is installing a new gas supply line, to minimise disruption. More details will be available at an exhibition tonight (Friday), from 7pm to 8pm, at the Kirkby Lonsdale Institute, New Road.

January 17, 2003 10:00