A sense of unease is growing as HS2 drilling continues to cause strange happenings at Ruislip Rugby Football Club.
Drilling is currently taking place under the area as tunnels are created for the new HS2 high-speed rail line. As reported in NORTHWOOD&RUISLIPnews, a mysterious foam pool appeared on the playing fields on West End Road on February 18.
HS2 said the foam had travelled up through a “pre-existing borehole”. The community was assured that there was no danger, and the area was cleaned.
A month later, however, a second disturbance took place on the fields some 20 metres away from the first. Instead of a brown foam-like substance, a furiously bubbling pool of muddy water sprang from the ground. A third incident has also appeared to have arisen but has been covered with tarpaulin.
Sarah Green, a 2022 Green Party election candidate for Ickenham South Harefield at Hillingdon Council, fiercely opposes the new HS2 railway.
She said: “It’s very, very worrying for residents of Herlwyn Avenue, which is adjacent to the rugby fields, in the direction that the tunnel boring machines are moving.”
Herlwyn Avenue is on lower ground than the rugby fields, which Sarah suggests puts them more at risk.
Sarah said: “Their houses will be around 15 metres above the tunnelling. If they’re having troubles at the rugby club, what’s to stop the same troubles, or worse, happening under the houses?”
HS2 state that air pressure from tunnelling usually dissipates in the ground, but in this case, it has reached the surface, causing the bubbling pool.
A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: “Our expert tunnelling team are adapting their methods to account for the variable ground conditions in this specific area. Safety is at the forefront of everything we do and they will restart continuous mining once the new approach has been assured.”
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