UP to 1,000 homes in the Chadwell St Mary and north Tilbury area were affected by a power outage this morning after a large digger working on extracting minerals brought cables down.

Some residents were without power for almost eight hours.

Thurrock Nub News has been reporting in recent days on the controversy surrounding the digging that is taking place on land rising from Biggin Lane which is a rural area between Tilbury and Chadwell and straddles three local council wards, Tilbury St Chads, East Tilbury and Chadwell St Mary.

Residents have complained about the noise as well as the devastation that is being wreaked on a natural habit that used to be home to animals and birds. Thurrock Council has been slammed by residents – and some ward councillors – for not taking enforcement action. To date the council has not responded to repeated requests for an explanation of its lack of action.

This morning (Sunday, 10 May) just after 7am the largest digger on the site came into contact with electricity cables, bringing them down.

Teams of engineers from UK power networks were called to the site and managed to restore some power supplies quickly but the final outage wasn't restored until 2.58pm.

Thurrock Nub News understands the workers operating three diggers and dumper trucks on the site have been contracted to come in and carry out the work on behalf of the landowner – but it appears no permissions have been granted for mineral extraction and as well as the environmental nuisance being caused to wildlife and neighbours, the site is operating illegally by allegedly supplying material for local building and paving firms.

Large mounds of extracted material have been created to the rear of the site.

And now it is likely that a prosecution will follow under health and safety laws. Thurrock Nub News has been told that engineers observed obvious breaches of regulations and one engineer, speaking to onlookers as the repair work was carried out said lives might well have been lost, said: "He was bloody lucky, he could easily have been killed is he or any of the other guys working on there had come directly into contact with the live cables."

Tilbury independent Cllr John Allen and his Labour colleague Cllr Gerard Rice, who represents Chadwell St Mary, have both spoken up and criticised the council for a lack of enforcement action – while many neighbours have complained.

And that may have put some of them in harm's way. Thurrock Nub News was told today that police visited the site yesterday following an altercation and threats being made. Essex Police have been asked to comment.

The site is accessed by Sandy Lane (formerly known as Sue's Lane), which used to connect with Linford Road, but that is now an impossible route to navigate due to copious amounts of fly-tipping from a point just past the entrance to the land where digging is taking place.

One resident told Thurrock Nub News this morning: "And that's another thing the council does nothing about. We have reported it, sent the council pictures but they do nothing. It's plain and simple – they are frightened to take any action against these people."