Politicians and neighbours in Fulham who will be affected by the super sewer are furious it was given consent.
The 25km Thames Tideway Tunnel will have a site in Carnwath Road by the river in south Fulham which will take seven years to build to provide an entrance for the tunnel under the Thames to tackle raw sewage entering the river.
Planning consent for the £4.2 billion concrete bore hole the size of four football pitches was granted last Friday (12) by Liz Truss, the environment secretary, and communities secretary Eric Pickles .
Hammersmith and Fulham Council, with both its Labour incumbents and the former Conservative council, has fought against the decision after Thames Water performed a dramatic u-turn in November 2011 and changed its original preferred site from playing fields in Barn Elms, Richmond to Fulham.
Ann Rosenburg lives in Peterborough Road which runs into Carnwath Road. “It would appear the government has ignored the level of human impact on residents,” she said.
“The reality now is seven years of building works and a tunnel boring machine 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The dust and pollution will be horrendous and around 7,000 school children will be exposed to it. The excavation site is right in front of a sheltered housing block and although many people in the area have moved out in anticipation, those disabled and elderly people cannot.”
The long-time Fulham resident added she felt betrayed by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson as he said he would support the residents against the Carnwath Road site when he visited Hammersmith Town Hall a few years ago.
David McGinty, 56, lives in Carnwath Road just where the bore hole will be. He said: “It will be impossible to live here with 24 hour works and the pollution will be unbearable.
“When I heard the news my heart sank, this is going to create a desert where nobody will be able to live.”
Chelsea and Fulham MP Greg Hands has fought against the decision for years and tried to find a more suitable site for the drive shaft.
He said: “This will be surely be disappointing for many local residents. I shall continue to liaise with residents to make sure Thames Water listens to them, and that together, residents and I fight to get the best deal for Fulham we can.”
Stephen Cowan, leader of the council, said the decision was disgraceful and effectively says a piece of park land is more important than a community where thousands live.
Andy Mitchell, chief executive of Thames Tideway Tunnel, said: “Hardly a week goes by when untreated sewage is pouring in to London’s river and we are pleased we can now start to tackle this archaic problem. We’re confident we can deliver this project and still achieve our aim of minimising the impact on our customer bills .”
Construction will start in 2016.
