A YEAR on from an explosion which killed a man and tore apart a local community, residents say life is returning to normal.

Paul Wilmott died at his home in Springwood, Haxby, a year ago on Sunday, when a gas explosion destroyed his home and damaged several others. Now, a new house is in the process of being built on the site, and neighbouring properties affected or damaged are all being repaired, with some already complete.

Reverend Kevin Trehy, of nearby St Margaret Clitherow Church, said the community had seen the best and the worst in people following the explosion, but “things have settled down”.

Rev Trehy said: “I think the explosion brought the community together, really, but I think they have drifted a bit again back to where they were.

“The community came together at the time, and I was glad to help them. Negatively, one of the residents said to me things have gone back to where they were.”

Maggie Kitson lives opposite Mr Wilmott’s home, and said: “It was an emotional rollercoaster initially whilst we were trying to negotiate with loss adjusters and insurers. We all had steep learning curves understanding the ways of insurance companies and the claims process.

“As a community we all quickly became united and supported each other. This has got to be the best thing to come out of the tragedy. We have made good friends with neighbours who we didn’t even know before the explosion. The worst thing to remain is the stigma attached to the street. We are known by people as The Blast Street more so than Springwood anymore. No one knows how long this will last but I’m sure people will forget as the years go by.”

Rev Trehy said Mr Wilmott would be remembered by the church and its congregation this weekend.

He said: “I think during our Sunday mass we would remember the poor man who died in the explosion and pray for his family”

One resident in Springwood, who asked not to be named, said his 13-year-old daughter had suffered anxiety since the explosion, but things were beginning to get back to normal.

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He said: “It showed her how unpredictable things were and that it could happen to anyone.

“We expect people to be interested but to park your car or walk round at 11 or 12 at night? It’s quite a quiet street. The first week wasn’t so bad because the police were here, but after that it just became a free for all. Once someone stopped and it turned out they’d come all the way from Bradford.”

Councillor Tony Richardson said he felt more should have been done further down the line to help residents who were still in shock when assistance was first offered, in the aftermath of the explosion.

Cllr Richardson said: “It was a real shock to the community and from everything that’s gone on, everyone has learned a lot of lessons. Particularly about support after the event. We’ve never had anything like this before, so there was no policy. You can’t just say ‘they’ve been offered support and given a number’, that’s not much comfort for people.

“These things don’t happen, this is what we have insurance for, something really out of the ordinary. It’s now about trying to get the street back together and houses back in play so it looks like a street again.”

Tom Brittain, assistant director of housing and community safety at City of York Council, said the authority had worked closely with emergency services at the time, provided temporary accommodation when needed, and ongoing advice and support.

He said: “The council’s role post incident is to ensure any public land affected is cleared of debris and if appropriate returned to public use. Ongoing support is always offered to individuals and our Major Incident Response Team (MIRT), which is a joint ‘emotional support’ service led by volunteers on behalf of the council provided face-to-face support to those affected in Haxby.”

Mr Brittain said neighbours within 150 metre of the explosion were offered support, but the “recovery, clean up and security of private buildings post incident is the responsibility of the home owner”.