Greg Hands M.P. has condemned Thames Water for failing to include any local state schools in its ‘Environmental Information Report’ on the Super Sewer. Despite producing a 355 page appendix on its proposed main bore site in Fulham’s Carnwath Road, the only school referred to in the document is Thomas’s Fulham Preparatory School on Hugon Road.
Carnwath Road is surrounded by a cluster of local schools, which would all be directly affected by both construction and heavy traffic. The schools ignored by Thames Water include:
- · Hurlingham and Chelsea School, Peterborough Road
- · Sullivan Primary School, Peterborough Road
- · L'école Marie d'Orliac, Clancarty Road
- · Queensmill School, Clancarty Road
- · Twice Times Nursery School, Clancarty Road
- · Sands End Pre-school, Wandsworth Bridge Road
This is before considering the many schools indirectly affected by the 29,000 lorries that will service the site. Thames Water’s proposed lorry route takes in King’s Road, New King’s Road and the length of Wandsworth Bridge Road.
Using rather coded language, the Environmental Information Report admits that schools and residents will feel the effects of six years of tunnelling:
“Both the construction related activities and traffic (including lorry movements) could result in amenity effects being experienced by a range of sensitive receptors in proximity to the proposed activities.”
Discussing Thomas’s Fulham, the report also notes its “high sensitivity to local air quality” and odour, as well as “medium sensitivity to dust nuisance”. However, it goes on to conclude that no mitigation measures should be taken.
Commenting, Greg Hands M.P. said: “It’s disgraceful that our local state schools don’t even get a mention in Thames Water’s environmental report, let alone assessed. They will be on the frontline of construction should this £4.1 billion Super Sewer get built.
“This is further evidence that Thames Water hasn’t considered the impact on residents of using Carnwath Road. We had already seen a lack of engagement with the social housing properties just yards from the site entrance. By moving tunnelling to residential Fulham, they seem to value green grass more than schools or people.
“Thames Water needs to go back and do the job properly. It is vital that as many residents as possible click on the consultation website and tell them to think again. This is the wrong place for the wrong project.”