Photo source: Thames Water Vauxhall combined sewer overflow
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has this week given her support to Thames Water’s plans for a tunnel to reduce the huge amount of raw sewage discharged into the River Thames. Thames Water estimates that the proposed tunnel will cost £3.6bn which could result in bill increases of around £60-£65 per year for Thames Water customers.
Getting planning approval may not be as easy or straightforward as Thames Water might hope. With the 2008 Planning Act a new ‘fast track’ process was introduced for all major infrastructure projects with approval by the Infrastructure Planning Commission. The Government has announced that the IPC will be replaced with a new Major Infrastructure Planning Unit but this wont happen until late 2011 at the earliest as new legislation is required and the approval process is likely to remain very similar with the exception that Ministers will have the final say.
The legislation requires extensive public consultation with local authorities being given the say on whether they think consultation has been adequate. The experience in the South West with the Hinkley nucleur project is interesting. There initially all the local councils welcomed EDF’s plans as they saw the new nucleur reactor bringing many jobs and significant ‘planning gain’. Now as the consultation by EDF comes to a close they have managed to loose the support of local councils as the forecast planning gains have become derisory – just £1m from a £10 billon plus project and the disruption to local communities more evident.
Thames Water will have a more difficult job. Local councils are opposed to the tunnel from the outset and local residents are unlikely to be supportive of a big increase in bills when most will see no obvious benefit. It will require very careful management of the consultation process if support for the plans is to be won.
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