Could the planning laws change as a result of the Buncefield disaster?
Forty-three people were injured in the explosions and fire, two seriously, and insurance assessors have warned the cost to nearby businesses will run into “multi-millions of pounds”. Mike Penning, Conservative MP for Hemel Hempstead, said 60 major commercial buildings would need to be demolished because they were now structurally unsafe, and another 150 had suffered superficial damage. But he added that thousands of people could have been injured if the blast had not happened early on a Sunday morning. “We were very lucky this time – if it had gone off at 10 o’clock on a Monday morning there would have been 30,000 people inside the blast zone,” Mr Penning said. Some 30,000 people worked and 2,000 others lived within the area in which windows were shattered by the explosion, he said. “I think this major national disaster will mean the need for a fundamental change in planning law that allows these sorts of depots so close to commercial and residential properties,” he said. A spokeswoman
