The Politics Show today on BBC 1 will carry the report that the Thames Tideway Tunnel, or "super sewer" as it has been dubbed by our Council, has been given the go ahead. The government, the Mayor of London and Thames Water have all given the scheme the go-ahead and work will begin soon.Given our Council's sometimes rabid opposition to this scheme, this is a major political defeat for them and it will of course be interesting to see how its propaganda-dressed-as-news will report this, if at all.
It is well known that Stephen Greenhalgh is not on speaking terms with Mayor Johnson and they right royally fell out over this issue. It would appear that the Mayor has simply swept our Council aside and pushed the scheme through.
The Council's strategy of blaming Thames Water for everything fell spectacularly apart at this meeting I reported from earlier and the recent Goldhawk Floods of last week were a timely reminder of how desperately our Borough needs to get on top of the flooding problem.
But now that the white flag has been hoisted over Hammersmith Town Hall, what will the next big campaign by the Council be?!
Well... I'm still not convinced. There's a LOT of money at stake here, remember - so the interested parties are not necessarily to be trusted. And Mayors are keen on big infrastructure projects. We just had the wettest November on record - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8389471.stm - and November is one of the wettest months of the year anyway. There was some really torrential rain, just like when it flooded here in the summer four or so years ago and all that sewage was washed into the Thames because of a problem/screw up with the sewers.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet the only flooding in the Bush this month was from a burst water main - very important not to get that confused with the issue of the sewers & storm drains and the Thames.
The fact that we can survive the wettest November on record without drama - this is why I won't just take their word for it that we really need to spend 2+ billion pounds on a massive tunnel beneath the Thames, and lose Furnivall Gardens, a green space with one of the best views in London, let alone H&F.
Ah, I take that back. 9+ million tonnes of sewage into the Thames last month, apparently.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23775873-thames-like-open-sewer-after-drains-overflow-in-heavy-rain.do
Although in that article the Thames Regional Rowing Council say the Super Sewer won't stop the flow of sewage from Mogden (which you referred to in another posted) and say "We've heard from hundreds of rowers and they say it's like rowing on an open sewer."
2bn and 10 years to build, I would sort of expect it to stop all raw sewage going into the Thames. Hm.
[...] a lot of poo. And it’s perhaps one more reason why the white flag now flies over Hammersmith Town Hall, and the Thames Tunnel – or Super Sewer – is here to [...]
ReplyDelete[...] poor Shaun, who in fairness was trying to defend a pretty weak position, struggled .. have a look at who he was up against from his Wikipedia entry. Step forward .. [...]
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