THAMES Water will be called to appear before Woking Borough Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee in relation to sewage issues in the Bourne and Wey rivers.
The deputy chair of the committee, Liberal Democrat Cllr James Sanderson, supported by fellow Lib Dem councillors John Morley and Adam Kirby, added a discussion with Thames Water to an upcoming meeting agenda.
A date for the session, inviting Thames Water to put forward a senior representative to go before the committee, will now be set.
The News & Mail understands it is likely to be scheduled for early 2023, if not next month’s meeting of the committee.
Cllr Ann-Marie Barker, the leader of the borough council, said: “There is no obligation on Thames Water to attend but I would hope they would want to speak to councillors.”
The council’s decision to call Thames Water vindicates the work of Horsell environmental campaigner Andrew McManus, who spotlighted the sewage-spill problem with a protest in the River Bourne, about a mile from Chobham sewage works. He was joined by Cllr Morley in the protest, which featured in the News & Mail.
Mr McManus last week moved his protest, featuring his now-signature toilet, to outside the council offices.
“I wanted to make more councillors aware of the frequent spilling of raw sewage into our local rivers and ask them to summon Thames Water, to find out why Chobham Sewage Treatment Works has been routinely spilling, to demand Thames Water immediately does something about it, how they are going to fix it and how quickly,” he said.
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“This is a national and local issue affecting all of us in Woking. It is fantastic to have the News & Mail help me raise this issue and campaign to get it sorted.
“I’m hoping that Woking Borough Council will join us to demand that Chobham sewage works stop dumping untreated sewage into our river and onto Horsell Common Site of Special Scientific Interest.”
Cllr Kirby said: “Andrew has shown what can be achieved by local campaigners – and local newspapers – with a clear mission and principles. Now we urgently need our MP for Woking to break his silence, and we need a change in the law so that the Government can’t allow much of this damage to remain legal.”
Thames Water also records 17 spills for a total of 162 hours in 2021 from its Carters Lane works in Old Woking.
Will Forster, the Lib Dem borough councillor for Hoe Valley, said: “It’s disgraceful to see a company polluting the River Wey with poisonous sewage. The water industry’s staggering profits will alarm millions who care about our environment.
“A big chunk of these profits should have been reinvested to protect Britain’s streams and rivers, instead of letting sewage dumps continue.”
Mr McManus added: “It’s interesting to note that our water bills include a charge to treat our sewage waste water, to clean it and make it safe before discharging it as clean water.
“We are being charged on our water bill and then some is just dumped in the river without treatment. Thames Water should refund residents for every gallon of sewage they are failing to clean and fined for the pollution they are causing.”
* WORK to improve the Chobham sewage plant, revealed as the worst treatment site in the area for spilling effluent into streams and rivers, has been started by Thames Water.
“Improvements include building a new balancing tank to help flow management through the site and to increase capacity to support expected population growth in the local area,” said a company spokesman.
Surrey Heath MP Michael Gove sent out a Tweet last week, thanking Thames Water “for meeting me to discuss concerns about the Chobham Sewage Work’s discharges into the River Bourne”.
It failed to impress Mr McManus. “The Environment Bill (Nov 2021) requires that sewage spills affecting protected land like Horsell Common must be stopped by 2035 and 75% of other spills be stopped by 2050,” he said.
“A House of Lords amendment wanted this to happen faster, but was defeated by the Government, with Michael Gove voting against the amendment.
“Strange that Michael Gove voted in November 2021 to allow Chobham sewage works to continue spilling untreated sewage until 2035 and now claims he will sort it.”