PART of a listed building must be bulldozed after a major oil leak caused by a falling tree contaminated much of the land of the 200-year-old Rangemore Hall.

It is estimated that up to 2,500 litres of heating oil was lost after a protected tree toppled onto a heating oil storage tank in the Coach House grounds of Rangemore Hall during high winds, and the land has been contaminated as a result.

An application has now been lodged with East Staffordshire Borough Council to bulldoze the steps and retaining wall of the Coach House to allow for a clean up operation of the foundations.

The hall, in Dunstall Road, Rangemore, is now a residential building and five of its properties are affected by the spill and also use heating oil serviced from individual storage tanks.

Last summer, a number of trees were removed from the grounds, but a large tree was left in place due to its preservation order on the understanding that it would be removed in February over stability concerns.

However, during high winds on January 25 the tree was uprooted and fell across the Coach House garden and landed on a storage tank, rupturing it and causing minor damage to another. It is estimated between 2,000 and 2,500 litres of oil may have been lost to the ground.

One resident said she saw the tree fall and that when it struck the tank, the oil shot into the air.

Tim Ridley, environmental scientist from loss insurers Ecologia, who have made the application, said: “The oil was then seen to begin flowing across the tarmac drive surface, downhill towards the rear of the coach house, across towards The Ewing Wing and into nearby drainage covers.”

The fire service sealed the nearby drains with bentonite mats and to lay absorbent pads across the tarmac drive.

Following the spill, vapours were observed in three of the properties near the spill point. As a result demolition needs to take place to allow access to the heating oil contaminated soils as the result of a large spill near the building structure.

The walls and steps will be rebuilt when remediation works are completed.