Community safety

The site occupies about 16 hectares, is approximately 1.5 miles (2.4km) west of Grain village on the Isle of Grain and is about 10 miles from Rochester. The terminal is in predominantly flat, open, agricultural and former industrial land, interspersed by many watercourses between the Medway and Thames Estuaries. The area is prone to the adverse effects of the weather, such as strong winds. The A228/B2001 road, between Stoke and Grain villages and a railway, pass by the site.

The terminal has facilities for unloading liquefied natural gas (LNG) from specially constructed ships. The LNG is stored in purpose-built tanks and is vaporised to form natural gas which is supplied to consumers via the high pressure National Transmission System. The terminal also generates and handles natural gas for supply to lower pressure pipeline systems and this gas is odorised using a proprietary compound before supply to consumers.

Under the Control of Major Accident Hazard (COMAH) Regulations 1999, the site operator is required to provide information to people within a defined area who may be affected by a major accident at the site. This area is determined by the competent authority and is referred to as the Public Information Zone (PIZ). The limit of the hazard area, as defined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), includes a limited number of residential premises within the Public Information Zone (PIZ). BP Oil UK Ltd and Thamesport (London) Ltd, industrial sites across the road, are within the zone and information is provided to them by Grain LNG Ltd on the actions to take in the event of an emergency on the Grain LNG site.

An abridged version of the LNG COMAH off-site Plan (pdf 188KB) is available to be downloaded. To use this file, you will need Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this on your computer, please visit our advice page.

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