Most of Ards site residents return home – MASHAHER

The majority of residents at the Rivenwood development in Newtownards in County Down, have returned to their homes after a controlled explosion was carried out on a World War Two bomb.

The 500kg (1,100lb) air-dropped SC-500 German bomb was found by construction workers last Thursday.

Construction workers are removing the remaining sand from in front of the development which had been used by Army bomb experts to dampen the explosion.

One resident, Sharon Murrell, said she had spent the last three days in her camper van at Millisle with Poppy her dog.

She said she was delighted to be back home and that there had been no damage to her property.

Ms Murrell praised the construction worker who identified the bomb and said everyone was indebted to him.

Four hundred nearby homes were evacuated on Saturday with residents told they could be out of their homes for five days.

Military experts had worked to reduce any damage from dealing with the bomb by constructing a sand-filled structure around it.

Joan McCabe, has lived in Rivenwood for six years, and is in the process of buying another property in the development.

“Fortunately, I wasn’t one of the people evacuated, I was outside the zone,” she told BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster on Wednesday.

“We still hope to go ahead with the purchase of the house, it may be a little bit delayed, but there doesn’t appear to be that much damage.

“Obviously there would need to be assessments on it before we know.”

Ms McCabe said the house, which she has not yet signed a contract for, was about 50m from the controlled explosion.

“I was watching it with one eye open, hoping that when the dust settles that the house is still standing which thankfully it was,” she said.

“There has been some damage to the solar panels at the back and some roof tiles, but inside we haven’t been able to get inside and we don’t know about whether there has been any structural damage – we will leave that to the professionals to assess that.”

She added:“Rivenwood is a great community, which is why we decided to stay but purchase in the next phase and everyone over the past five days has pulled together so well”.

Catherine Fleming, her husband and 16-month-old baby Luca were relieved to be getting back into their home, which was round the corner from the site of the controlled explosion.

They had just returned from holiday on Saturday when a police officer called to their door, advising them to evacuate the property.

The family and their three dogs had to stay with Catherine’s parents, which was a tight squeeze.

“It was a full house but we managed fine, it was grand,” she said.

UUP councillor for Ards and North Down Peter Wray told Good Morning Ulster everyone was “delighted this whole situation that started on Thursday has come to an end”.

“It was a big explosion that circulated on social media, and was apparently heard as far away as Ballywalter,” he added.

Ards and North Down Borough Council has issued information for residents returning to their homes.

“It is the homeowner’s responsibility to check the condition of their property,” the document states.

The controlled explosion took place at about 15:38 BST on Tuesday, police said.

“The munition found, which I can now confirm was identified as being an air-dropped SC-500 German bomb from World War Two, was understood to have been in and around 83-years-old, but still posed a significant risk to public safety, even after all this time,” Supt Johnston McDowell said.

Belfast and its surroundings were heavily bombed by Germany in 1941.

World War Two munitions are found across Northern Ireland from time to time, but they rarely cause this level of disruption to people living nearby.

Supt McDowell added this was a “highly complex operation” with a disposal team comprised of members of the Army’s 321 EOD and search squadron.

Emergency services also attended.

James Fraser, the developer of the site, told the BBC that the Army had informed him that some solar panels had been damaged on the nearby homes, but no windows were broken.