Council planners give go ahead to rebuild Derbyshire town’s tragic gas blast bungalow

Council planners have approved an application to rebuild a bungalow at the site of a gas explosion which destroyed the original property and left an elderly man with serious injuries before he died.

Nigel Barrow, aged 78, was airlifted and taken to Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital after the explosion at the property on Ollersett Avenue, in New Mills, in Derbyshire’s High Peak, on November 14, last year,. Sadly, he died on Friday, November 17, 2023.

High Peak Borough Council’s development control committee has now considered and approved its own planning application to ‘reinstate’ the demolished property.

A council spokesperson stated the application is for the reconstruction of the bungalow, which would be a two bedroom property and would be built to the same footprint and height as the original building.

Emergency services were called to Ollersett Avenue just after 8am, on November 14, after reports of an explosion.

Derbyshire fire crews attended the incident with Derbyshire police, East Midlands Ambulance Service, an air ambulance, and staff from gas distribution company Cadent.

Police confirmed Mr Barrow suffered life-threatening injuries and later died in hospital and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed 12 properties had to be evacuated and others were warned to keep their doors and windows closed.

The council committee has now agreed the bungalow is to be ‘reinstated’ subject to conditions.

An investigation into the exact cause of the blaze had been launched but none of the authorities involved have yet confirmed the outcome.

Cadent Gas has completed an upgrade for Ollersett Avenue as part of gas network improvements across the SK22 postcode area of Derbyshire to replace ageing, metallic pipes with new plastic ones.

Derbyshire police and the council stated they have each submitted a file to the coroner and that they have nothing further to add on the matter.

Formal statements are still awaited from Cadent Gas, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Health and Safety Executive who have all been asked whether the investigation into the incident has been completed and when the full findings will be released?