Difficulty Tracing Gas Leaks Delays A281 Roadworks

Published on: 7 Feb, 2026
Updated on: 8 Feb, 2026

Roadworks continuing on the busy A281 Shalford Road. Jack Bayliss

By Martin Giles

Roadworks on the A281 have taken longer than expected because gas leaks were difficult to trace, Surrey County Council has said, following persistent enquiries from Dragon reader Jack Bayliss.

Cllr Matt Furniss

Complaining about a lack of response to a previous email, Mr Bayliss wrote on Thursday (February 5) to Cllr Matt Furniss (Con), the Cabinet member for Transport and division councillor for Shalford, about the roadworks, saying that the gas company responsible appeared to have made little progress.

In his email he wrote: “At 1540 this afternoon, Wednesday, no work was being done. There was one man on the site sitting in the vehicle, but nothing else.

“In the meanwhile there is a greatly increased number of vehicles, including large buses, using Pilgrims Way as they try to avoid the lengthy queues on the A281, and thereby causing an increasing number of growing, but unrepaired, potholes a small proportion of which have been marked with red paint and otherwise completely ignored.

“Since there are no houses adjacent to the carriageway where the gas works are being carried out, there would appear to be no reason why work could not be done at night as well as by day, as happens in other properly run countries.

“Perhaps the lack of action by the County Council will become an issue in the forthcoming elections. I suspect that Reform would welcome it if it did.”

The Dragon requested a response from Cllr Furniss but only received a statement from a SCC spokesperson, who wrote: “The initial investigations to locate the gas leak proved challenging, making this one of the more complex detections.

“Once the original leak was identified, a further leak was discovered, necessitating a road closure while SGN [Scotia Gas Networks, who manage gas network in the south of England and across Scotland] worked overnight to resolve both issues.

“Following these repairs, SGN has remained on site to undertake additional works aimed at improving the resilience of the apparatus and reducing the risk of further leaks.

“This site has been inspected by Surrey County Council’s Street Works officers on 13/01/2026, 16/01/2026, 22/01/2026, 23/01/2026 & 30/01/2026. The site was attended by SGN crew on five of these six inspections.

“It is anticipated that all works will be completed early next week.”