RATS (Residents Against Thames Sewer) protester Nicky Pateman continues her weekly column outlining the opposition's case against building part of the Thames Tunnel from a site in Carnwath Road, Fulham. This week she demands answers....

Last week Phil Stride referred to Thames Water’s “conversations with local people”, and the previous week we heard they are “listening to the concerns of people living near all the proposed sites”.

So where is their response to Sonia Peppoli, mother of little cerebral palsy sufferer Gabriel? And to pensioners Angela’s and Kathleen’s questions last week? Perhaps this week Phil will really listen and respond to what is actually being said.

I met Dario Carabba, who founded the Energie fitness club that is a few feet from the proposed site, just across the narrow Carnwath Road. Energie is a family business started with the money Dario’s mother, Annie, raised by re-mortgaging her home. Now in her mid-60s, this is Annie’s final swansong of her working life with the aim of providing for her retirement.

In Energie, Dario has created a vibrant hub of the community. In less than five years, he has successfully built the gym from nothing to a membership of more than 1100. It is beautifully designed with great equipment. And Energie has done much for the close-knit Carnwath Road community by sponsoring local football and rugby teams, as well as working with local schools and charities.

But Dario is concerned for the neighbourhood. He cannot see how Thames Water would be able to keep the Carnwath Road open with the unavoidable heavy site traffic. He knows this narrow road well and believes it would be a risk to pedestrians and cyclists.

Notably, Thames Water has never once taken the time to speak to Dario, despite his business being so close to the site. And Dario does have concerns that thick site dust will render Energie’s air conditioning units and boiler extraction units inoperable.

Dario asks: “Having sacrificed and worked so hard for five years, why should the business be faced with an external threat that imposes unnecessary pressures? Why do they not see the site has to be where there is maximum space and minimum impact on local residents?”

Visit www.FulhamRats.org for more information.

Thames Water's Phil Stride insists: 'We are listening'

THAMES Water really is listening. This is what this whole process is about and we are doing a great deal of work to figure out what the issues are at our potential sites so that we can address them responsibly.

We have responded to everyone who has contacted us about the Thames Tunnel to help with their queries and address their concerns.

In response to the points made by the RATS campaigners in their articles for this week and last, we can assure Mr Carabba that his business can continue to function even if we use Carnwath Road and sisters Angela and Kathleen can still rely on the 424 hopper bus as we are working to keep road disruption to a minimum.

We are very sympathetic to Sonia Peppoli’s concerns over her son Gabriel’s breathing because he has cerebral palsy and the fact she’s scared of the dust and noise during construction. However we are committed to protecting families in the whole of London during the construction phase.

If we use Carnwath Road we would put a warehouse-type shed around our site so that any noise and dust is contained within it. We are also looking to use the River Thames as much as we can to transport materials – significantly reducing the amount of traffic on local roads.

We've been doing transport surveys, bat surveys, breeding bird surveys, reptile surveys and noise monitoring to name just a few. We’ve been walking on the foreshore of the river, checking for any historic structures or remnants and we’ve been doing viewpoint surveys for our townscape and visual studies.

All of this information will feed into our Environmental Impact Assessment, an incredibly important document which sets out the possible effects of the construction and operation of the Thames Tunnel and the measures we will put in place to protect London and all who live and work here, including Gabriel.

We are listening and we want to hear everyone’s views, but as most people recognise – we need to do something to clean up the capital’s river.