Bedford council has "70% chance" of recovering Cleat Hill explosion costs

And there’s only an up to “70 per cent chance” of recovering all the costs.

Last week’s Executive Meeting heard that the gas explosion at Cleat Hill could cost the council up to £2 million – but that its chief executive was doing all she could to recover that.

During the Budget and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Thursday, March 13) councillor Graeme Coombes (Conservative, Wixams and Wilstead) asked for an update.

“Can you advise the committee what is the likelihood of being able to get any money out of the government to cover the cost?” he asked.

“I just wondered is there any likelihood of recouping some of the costs that this council rightly incurred in terms of resolving the difficult issues with that tragedy?”

The council’s portfolio holder for finance, councillor Jim Weir (Conservative, Great Denham), said: “Given the circumstances of the incident and with the ongoing investigations, you will appreciate that we need to be careful to not prejudice our position at this stage.

“However, I can provide you with assurance that as would be expected of any organisation that is dealing with an incident, the council is considering all possible options to recover its costs.

“And in some cases, actions have already been taken to begin that process.”

Councillor Weir said there are effectively two areas to consider, support from central government via the Bellwin scheme or other exceptional funding.

“It should however be noted that due to the scheme rules, any successful award through Bellwin may not result in a full recovery of costs,” he said.

The government’s website states that this scheme is intended to reimburse the cost of actions taken in the immediate phase of an emergency, not those taken as part of the recovery phase.

Councillor Weir said: “Therefore we would hope that any exceptional funding award may assist in supporting some of the gap.”

He added that it is not in the council’s interest to predict any outcome of actions and potential claims against third parties to recover costs and/or mitigate and reduce any further costs.

“But all [options] will remain under consideration with the single aim to obtain the fullest recovery as possible for the council,” he said.

“Whilst there are no set time scales to receive a response [from the government] we would hope to receive a reply in the short term.

“Given their nature, any potential claims against third parties may take longer to be resolved depending on the complexity involved.”

Committee chair, councillor Michael Headley (Lib Dem, Putnoe) said: “My understanding is the assumptions in the report are that we will get 100 per cent of the funding back.

“Do you have an assessment of the confidence in getting the full amount back?” he asked.

Councillor Weir said: “From some of the conversations that chief executive has had, and one or two others have had, is that they are sympathetic towards what we’re asking for, so I would say 70 per cent.”