Thames Tideway Tunnel ‘will cause years of misery’, says local council

The construction of the Thames Tideway Tunnel “will cause years of misery” to residents living close to one of the construction sites, according to Hammersmith and Fulham council.

The super sewer was awarded a Development Consent Order (DCO) by the government on Friday morning, despite opposition from the local authority, which claimed it’s construction would “unnecessarily blight the lives of tens of thousands of people”.

The council wanted Thames Water to use a greenfield site on the opposite bank of the Thames, in Barn Elms, for the construction site.

Thames Water originally planned using the site in Barn Elms, near the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust nature reserve at Barnes for its tunnelling work to take place but change this because consultation responses urged it to “avoid greenfield sites, where possible, and use the river more for transporting materials”.

Councillor Stephen Cowan, the leader of Hammersmith and Fulham council, said: “This is a disgraceful decision by the Government which effectively says that a piece of park land is more important than a community where thousands of people live.

“The park would have been restored after construction was completed, but using Carnwath Road will cause human misery to thousands of people for years to come.”

In their letter of explanation, the communities and environment secretaries, Eric Pickles and Liz Truss, said that there was a “good case” for granting the development order which is ‘not outweighed’ by the adverse impacts.

Truss added: “In the 21st century, London should not have a river that is polluted by sewage every time there is heavy rainfall.

“The Thames Tunnel is considered to be the best solution to address London’s outdated sewerage infrastructure.”

The decision supports the recommendation made by the Planning Inspectorate on 12 June 2014, following the examination of the application by a five member panel.

The tunnel will take seven years to build once construction starts in 2016, and there will be 24 construction sites across London.

The super sewer aims to prevent the discharge from London’s combined sewerage system, caused by exceptionally wet weather overwhelming the drains, being discharged into the Thames.

Andy Mitchell, chief executive of Thames Tideway Tunnel, said: “This is a huge project but it’s a huge problem, and we can now get on with tackling it.

“It’s no easy task, but we’re confident that we can deliver this project and still achieve our aim of minimising the impact on our customer bills.”