"Super Sewer" not in Hammersmith

The 'super sewer' entrance will not be located in H&F. The main entry will be in Richmond, next to the Wetlands Centre and a community sports complex. There is also likely to be a small construction site in Hammersmith but nothing on the scale of the Barnes site.

Those will be the recommendations contained in a consultation that Thames Water will be publishing today, having had the official green light from the Government last week.

And so brings to a close one of the most expensive and least edifying campaigns of misinformation from our Council in recent times. Even this week's taxpayer funded edition of Pravda carried this ridiculous article claiming that their campaign had resulted in the evil Thames Water backing down from their dastardly plan to make residents homeless and churn up Furnival Gardens. The reality is that that was never on the cards - nor was Ravenscourt Park which was also cited by our Council as primed to be turned into a massive "stink hole".

Having initially believed the Council was telling the truth, that Thames Water really was hell bent on taking over Furnival Gardens, I urged you to back their campaign. Some of you did and signed their petition. Then they were found to be telling porkies. Big ones. Including scaring their own residents about the prospect of being made homeless. This and all of their other claims were laughed out of court by, in no particular order:

•  Other Councils, of all political parties
• Thames Water
• The Mayor of London
• The Government (Labour and Tory/LibDem)

Which didn't leave many allies really. Having lost all credibility our Council went quiet on the subject after the homeless warning which wasn't and are now going to try to claim credit for saving us all from Thames Water's evil plans. I think residents will draw their own conclusions. And it will make the exchanges between Cllr Greenhalgh and Thames Water CEO Richard Aylard interesting when they both appear before the Greater London Authority tomorrow - I'll be going and will report back.

What annoys me most is that in this report, it's revealed that all of this is going to cost us £65 per year extra on our bills. While Thames Water shareholders no doubt continue to receive handsome dividends. And as we've seen with the recent water cut offs and TW's response, they are hardly an organisation that should be above criticism. Had our Council not spent so much of our money on their ridiculous campaign we would have had the chance to subject Thames Water to some serious scrutiny instead.

In the meantime, have a look at this vid from Thames Water about what they're planning to do and why:



1330 UPDATE: Thames Water, in parallel with the public consultation, will also be running question and answer sessions on Twitter via @thameswater, using the hash tag #thamestunnel, on Wednesday 15 September and Monday 27 September, both from 7pm.
People can take part in the consultation by visiting the Thames Tunnel consultation website: http://www.thamestunnelconsultation.co.uk/.

1400 UPDATE: For reasons best known to them Thames Water boffins seem to have taken their video off YouTube. Just like water consumers in West London, you're now without! But here are some details of the Hammersmith consultation event in October:

Hammersmith public exhibition11 October - 12 October 2010
Come along to our Hammersmith public exhibition to review our plans and let us know your views.
Specialists from our project team will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.
Dates: Monday 11 - Tuesday 12 October
Times: 10.30am - 8pm
Venue: Linden House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith, W6 9TA
Map: http://www.linden-house.org/location

1500 UPDATE: Vid is working now