Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Couples take on the might of the military
Residents battle RAF Fairford over threat to shut down water supply:
RAF Fairford is under fire for planning to cut off the water supply to its neighbours – potentially leaving them with a bill of more than £500,000 to get an alternative supply.
Three couples, two of whom are elderly, get water piped into their homes from a borehole on the RAF base.
The supply was granted by the Secretary of State for Air on August 17, 1948, after the airfield was developed.
The rural location in south-east Gloucestershire is distant from, and not connected to, the Thames Water main supply that most residents in the area benefit from.
Fairford is today largely used by the United States Air Force, with B-52 bombers and a Cold War-era U2 spy plane being photographed visiting in recent months.
It also hosts the Royal International Air Tattoo and has one of the longest runways in Britain at almost two miles long.
The residents living nearby are now in dispute with their military neighbours.
Sue and Anthony Jones face having to find a new water supply for the first time in nearly 70 years of living on the edge of the air base.
The same applies to their neighbours, Ian and Sally Leckenby and Wendy and Justin Nicholls. Mr and Mrs Jones are Wendy’s parents and her sister, Tracey Fairbanks, lives with them.
All of them have been in dispute with the Ministry of Defence over the matter since 2014.
They have now spoken publicly about it for the first time after military bosses told them they wanted it to be resolved by the end of this year.
The residents fear having to pay a huge sum of money to either get their own borehole or get connected to an alternative water supply, with one quote putting the cost at almost £600,000. They believe the MoD should help them to cover the cost and they have accused officials of keeping them in the dark about why the change is needed.
Mrs Nicholls said that when she bought one of two cottages near Totterdown Farm, in Fairford, nearly 20 years ago she was not told that the water supply could ever be terminated.
She said: “Morally, it’s wrong. Surely there’s got to be some sort of assistance.”
She added that the matter was “really stressful” and she and her sister had been doing their best to sort it out.
Mrs Nicholls said the MoD would only tell them that the water supply change, and the military’s purchase of a lake they previously enjoyed access to, was for “security” reasons.
No more detail than that had been given to them, she said.
Mr and Mrs Jones, who live in the other cottage, are equally angry about the situation.
Mrs Jones said: “We are pensioners and can’t afford to pay for a new water supply installation. It’s very worrying and has been extremely stressful.
“I have lived here for the best part of 70 years and never had an issue. I don’t understand why after all these years they have now decided we are a security risk to the base. If that were true, then a simple non-return valve would solve the problem of any risk of contamination to the water supply on base.
“If we are not entitled to be on the base water supply, then why has it never been an issue until now?
She added: “When we bought the property from Hanson 20 years ago, the water supply was never mentioned. We just continued to pay our bills to Brize Norton as instructed.
“When the bills stopped coming, Squadron Leader Still told me not to worry and that it would all be sorted out. I had several conversations about it with him and he reassured me every time. No one said we shouldn’t be on the supply.
“Thames Water quoted a ridiculous amount of money to have the supply installed. We live almost a mile away from the main connection and it would cost hundreds of thousands to connect us up.”
Ms Fairbanks said: “We are totally insignificant in comparison to the MoD and USAF. It’s extremely intimidating and they will clearly just do whatever they like.”
Mr Leckenby said the residents were sent a letter in 2014 saying that the USAF did not want “non-entitled customers” to be supplied off-base, and that the supply would be terminated in a year’s time.
He said he and his neighbours were the only three such recipients of this service in the UK.
He said the matter had continued since 2014, without any change or compromise from the military authorities.
“At no time have we been able to discuss this situation with the base personnel, despite repeated requests,” he said.
One quote he obtained from Thames Water to provide a water supply was for £591,710.
After years of what he said had been fruitless negotiations, he added: “It is a disgrace. We are retired, in our mid-70s, as are the Jones family, and we really do not need this type of mindless hassle at our stage in life.”
An MoD spokesperson said: “As the site is currently being used by US Visiting Forces, the decision to turn off the water is not an issue the MoD can comment on. We will continue to work with residents to try and find a solution to this issue.”
We are pensioners and can’t afford to pay for a new water supply installation SUE JONES