A site for residents of Prince's Ward, SE11, in the London Borough of Lambeth. Check for updates from your Labour Action Team's campaigning, local information, and meetings.

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Tideway Tunnel consultation begins - big potential impact on the Vauxhall riverside

Thames Water has begun a public consultation on the construction of the 'Tideway Tunnel', a massive infrastructure project which will divert sewage from the River Thames.

Currently London's Victorian sewers carry untreated sewage directly into the river whenever there is heavy rain. The proposed Tunnel will run underneath the river, intercepting the sewer overflows and carrying sewage directly to the sewage treatment works in east London.

Building the Tunnel will be massively costly and challenging, and will require many large construction sites along the route of the river.

Unfortunately two 'Combined Sewer Overflows' reach the river at Vauxhall. A construction site will be needed to connect the sewers with the Tunnel.

Thames Water have decided their preferred site is here, on the riverside of Tintagel House and 89 Albert Embankment. (Their non-preferred sites are the riverside of MI6, the riverside of St George Wharf, and a site at Claylands Road in Oval.)

The whole site would need to be used for construction for three years. Thames Water are likely to require some permanent aboveground structures on the site after the construction work has finished. In order to accommodate these structures, they propose to extend the existing river wall to create a new area of hard-standing.

You can download a pdf explaning the proposals for Vauxhall in more detail here

Local councillors have just learnt of the plans and will be contacting Thames Water to suggest a consultation event takes in Vauxhall, and to ask more questions about the temporary and permanent effects of the construction works.

Information on all the construction sites and the consultation process is available at www.thamestunnelconsultation.co.uk

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Promoted by David Amos and Joanne Simpson of Prince's Branch Labour Party (Vauxhall Constituency and Lambeth Borough) all at 264A Rosendale Road, SE24 9DL