New supersewer threat

Tuesday January 12, 2010

Under threat: Furnivall Gardens is one of the H&F parks which could be blighted for years by Thames Tideway Tunnel construction work.

Residents' views on the Thames Tideway Tunnel could be bypassed despite the fact they are set to pay for the project and endure nearly a decade of construction misery.

Planning applications for the mega-pipe, the project dubbed the supersewer, which could blight parks in the borough during many years of construction, could be referred to the new Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), according to The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

H&F Council is concerned that the IPC will ignore the views of local people and bulldoze the controversial project through.

It has written to Defra to protest about the proposed use of the IPC - a new quango with the power to decide planning applications of national importance, such as airports and power stations.

The fact that local opinion could be ignored is even more galling as Thames Water customers, who are mainly in London, are set to pay for the project through increased water rates.

The company says the £2.2 billion sewer - which will take at least eight years to build - is designed to stop some sewage flowing into the river at times of heavy rainfall.

But the council believes the scheme will prove too damaging to the lives of residents and not bring enough improvements to justify the colossal cost.

H&F cabinet member Paul Bristow said: "The council is appalled at the proposed use of the IPC as all along we have been told that this is a London project that should be paid for by Thames Water customers. However, it now appears that when it comes to gaining the necessary planning permissions the views of Londoners can simply be ignored."

Defra says the scheme is seen as playing a 'nationally significant role in securing UK compliance with the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive' but the council argues that if the pipe is of national significance then it should be paid for by the whole nation.

"If Londoners are to pay for this scheme then we have a democratic right to decide whether or not we want it," Cllr Bristow added.

He wrote to councillors from the other 10 riparian boroughs to encourage more intense scrutiny of the proposals last month.

The council argues that the tunnel will lead to 'unacceptable disruption' to parks and open spaces along the banks and would put many residents in 'water poverty' as rates go up to pay for it.

Cllr Bristow said: "The social costs of the scheme will be felt most acutely at a local level and these will be severe and long-lasting.

"Those affected by the works would be locked into the nightmare of living by a major construction site for eight years."

The council is urging Thames Water to examine more sustainable long-term solutions such as the separation of sewage and flood water instead of using a combined drainage system.

The council believes a shorter 'smarter supersewer' may be the best way forward.