Two London borough councils have slammed the government’s plans to move the Thames Tideway Tunnel project onto the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC).
The boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) and Kensington & Chelsea (K&C) said that ministers are bypassing the local democratic process to secure planning permission for the £2.2 billion project.
The councils claimed the tunnel is not at the threshold required for the IPC, a government-established organization with the power to decide planning applications of national importance, such as airports and power stations. They claimed that the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) will invoke special powers to push the tunnel plans through.
The councils are angry that constituents’ views on the tunnel will be ignored despite the fact that they will pay for the project through increased water rates.
They argued that if the tunnel is of national importance then it should be paid for by the whole nation. H&F cabinet member Paul Bristow said, “If Londoners are to pay for this scheme then we have a democratic right to decide whether or not we want it.”
According to H&F council, residents will “endure nearly a decade of construction misery.” The council is also angry that parks and open spaces such as Furnivall Gardens will be blighted by the work. It argued that the project won’t bring enough improvements to justify the cost or the damage to residents’ lives.
A DEFRA spokeswoman said any decision to actually refer the project to the IPC would be taken in 2011 at the earliest. She also said that all interested parties would be able to participate in the consultation process.
The Thames Valley Tunnel is an eight year project designed to stop sewage flowing into the river at times of heavy rainfall. It is the government’s response to meeting the European Union’s Urban Waste Treatment Directive.
The councils argued a shorter tunnel would be a better option. They urged Thames Water to examine more sustainable long-term solutions such as the separation of sewage and floodwater instead of the combined drainage system.
Bristow wrote to councillors from ten other boroughs affected by the project to encourage more intense scrutiny of the proposals last month.
