Super sewer crater protest
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
28/07/2008
Residents could pay up to £200-a-head for the construction of a 30 metre hole for a 'super sewer' using one of the borough's treasured open spaces – with Thames Water admitting it will have little or no impact on preventing flooding.
The huge crater – possibly earmarked for Ravenscourt Park or Furnivall Gardens– would be needed to pump out at least one million tonnes of soil to construct a £2.5 billion tunnel under the Thames that will effectively act as a super sewage storage tank. Constructing the 32km long tunnel would in total take eight years to build - obliterating an open space.
In addition there will also be five other smaller connecting shafts in the borough each of around 10 metres in diameter.
At a meeting with council leaders on Tuesday, Thames Water officials admitted the Government-backed scheme is designed to ease the overflow from sewers in order to meet EU regulations – with Thames Water customers picking up the bill.
However, a GLA Environment spokesperson says that the Thames ‘is one of the cleanest metropolitan rivers in the world’. In the last 20 years 120 species of fish have been recorded.
In a letter to the Council, Thames Water said that Hammersmith & Fulham Council would have to be the starting point for the tunnel - which would run under the Thames to Beckton in the east and be wider in diameter than the Channel Tunnel. However, Thames Water has since clarified that the starting point may extend beyond the borough boundary into Hounslow.
Council leader Stephen Greenhalgh said: “This would be a disaster for our borough and a disaster our residents who would have to pay for it while enduring eight years of misery for minimial environmental benefits. As a council we are going to fight this madness tooth and nail and would urge our residents to back us.
This super sewage tank under the Thames would have virtually no impact on flooding situation. It is designed purely to meet an EU regulation on pollution when in fact environmentalists are saying that the Thames is so clean that even seahorses are thriving. The Government wants this super septic tank so that it won’t have to pay any more EU fines – yet it is not prepared to pay for it and is landing all Thames Water bill payers with a super stealth tax instead. The Government should be challenging the absurdity of the EU directive and standing up for common sense.
“Of course we don’t want sewage seeping into the Thames, but surely building a £2.5 billion septic tank under our river, obliterating open spaces, bringing chaos to the borough for eight years while landing residents with a £200 plus bill isn’t the answer. This would send a large number of people into water poverty. We must look at other solutions to this problem.”
Thames Water officials insisted that the area around Hammersmith has to be either the start or end point for the tunnel because, in times of excessive rain, this is where the current sewage outfalls are located. However, Thames Water’s own map shows that the overflow actually starts in Chiswick – which was flagged up three years ago as the original starting point. Thames Water also say that the real cost to bill payers would be £43.
Councillor Greenhalgh added: “For whatever reason Thames Water has changed its mind on where this tunnel was going to start and we still haven’t received any satisfactory answers why. We are saying that there should be no tunnel at all and we are urging local groups and neighbouring councils to unite.”
Thames Water says it wants to work with H&F Council on locating a potential site – a call that has so far been rejected. Any planning application would likely to be made either late 2010 or early 2011 – by which time H&F Council may not have any planning power over major strategic infrastructure schemes in the borough.
Cllr Greeenhalgh concluded: “Our residents can rest assured that we will be fighting Thames Water and the Government every inch of the way over this.”
