The Thames Tunnel

On Monday the 'Save Your Riverside Campaign' will be holding a public meeting at City Hall to discuss how to take forward the campaign to save Chambers Wharf, a site which Thames Water has continued to identify as a tunnelling site for the Thames Tunnel Supersewer.  Thames Water's preference for the site means that local residents and schools face the prospect of at least 7 years of 24 hour a day drilling and tunnelling works on a site just yards from their homes and schools.  Some have likened the proposed works as similar to having the Channel Tunnel main site outside their bedroom windows.

Thames Water had previously undertaken a consultation with regard to their proposed use of Chambers Wharf which had been met with a really cogent and well reasoned campaign.  It was incredibly disappointing that Thames Water appeared to pay absolutely no attention to that campaign or modify their proposals in any way.  Whilst the Tunnel is probably a necessity, it is certainly not necessary to blight peoples homes and lives for such an extensive period.  Other possibilities exist which mean that Chambers Wharf would either not have to be used at all or certainly not as a main drilling site.

Hopefully the public meeting can continue to concentrate the minds of Thames Water's bosses on finding a solution to this problem which at least demonstrates a spirit of compromise.  It is unacceptable for a publicly funded monopoly to act in a way which appears to take absolutely no account of the views of the people who they purport to serve.