The man who has pushed for fields at Route Isabelle to be surveyed for World War II bombs has welcomed the plans to do just that.
Bomb disposal expert Ben Remfrey has been lobbying the States to carry out a deep invasive survey of the fields opposite Le Foulon Cemetery since at least 2019.
A shallow non-intrusive survey was carried out then, to try and find the bombs.
When they weren’t found, the Committee for Home Affairs said the matter was closed.
Mr Remfrey remained concerned that up to three undetected bombs are in that field and he went public with those concerns last year.
He has previously said each of the three bombs could weigh up to 1000lbs.
Yesterday it was confirmed that a deep intrusive survey will be carried out – starting in June – to establish once and for all if there are actually any bombs in the identified fields along Route Isabelle.
6 Alpha Associates has been contracted to carry out the deep survey.
Residential and commercial properties have been built around the fields since the war ended, including two developments of houses in recent years.
Mr Remfrey said everyone who lives there or elsewhere in the island deserves to know if there are any bombs there or not.
“The right decision was made, after my extensive research, to conduct a deep intrusive survey to locate these air dropped weapons, from 3rd March 1941,” he told Express.
“6 Alpha Associates I know well and they are a very professional UK specialist risk mitigation company, members of whom (including the operator leading this survey in Route Isabelle in June) were trained by my company PCM & MAT Kosovo www.pcm-erw.com.
“I am certain that in the coming weeks the location of the bombs will be confirmed exactly, after which a plan of phases then needs to be devised to excavate and render safe these devices.
“Once this is done then there is closure, and any unplanned or sympathetic detonation of the devices removed once and for all.”
The bombs
The three bombs believed to be lying in the field along Route Isabelle were among four dropped on Guernsey during the Occupation.
Each of the bombs missed their intended target and landed along Route Isabelle instead.
One is known to have detonated on landing, while a witness of the day said the other three landed on softer ground and penetrated the earth without detonating.
In his expert opinion, Mr Remfrey has previously publicly stated that the bombs are likely to be ‘British GP 500lb’ or ‘1000lb’.
He said that the explosive charge weight of a bomb of this size would be around 33% of its weight.