Forum Topic

Over to you, John Todd...

“Mr (Steve) Taylor and Mr (Barry) Edwards (of the Mogden Residents' Action Group) have been doing an excellent job at raising the issues of Mogden residents with Thames Water and Hounslow Council.  It is a shame that so many residents have been affected by these problems for such a long time and I hope that by meeting with the Minister, I will be able to push for permanent solutions to be created and enacted.  Mogden residents have suffered long enough and I am happy to see that the Minister is taking this issue seriously.”Mary Macleod, Conservative Member of Parliament for Brentford & Isleworth

Phil Andrews ● 4045d10 Comments

Another good meeting with Mary Macleod MP and DEFRA Minister Dan Rogerson. Mary is working hard for residents to hold Thames Water accountable and we are grateful that she has the backing of the Minister to try to resolve the mess at Mogden created by Hounslow Council. I am quite surprised though that Cllr John Todd will not voice his support for Mary and residents. It is times like these that effective Councillors could and should really pull finger and support the greater good!

Steve Taylor ● 4024d

"as I'm sure her faithful party colleagues will also."Well I would certainly hope John Todd will finally wake up and smell the raw sewage because it can't be good for the people of Chiswick & Brentford  (especially the Chiswick Rowers) that Thames Water has dischraged raw sewage from Mogden directly into the River Thames on 66 occasions since the expansion of the site completed. Cllt Todd will be fully aware that Thames Water promised that if his Council approved planning application it would reduce flow to river to approximately once a year. You do the math. 'Approx' once for last year and approx once for this year, does not equal 66 or even 'approx' 66. Already 3 flows this year and its only 21 January!!!

Steve Taylor ● 4031d

Best of luck Steve.  If she is in the mood to bring Thames Water to book at last then I hope you will give her every support and encouragement, as I'm sure her faithful party colleagues will also.

Phil Andrews ● 4031d

We are meeting again with Mary Macleod MP and DEFRA minister Dan Rogerson at the House of Commons tomorrow to try get Thames Water sorted out where Hounslow Council have failed so miserably

Steve Taylor ● 4031d

"makes it 5 discharges in the first 12 days of January !"Thanks for that information Tim. Its astounding what a failure Mogden is after spending £140 million of ratepayers money on the alleged upgrade. We have passed this information to Mary Macleod and Dan Rogerson the Defra Minister to take up with Thames Water.

Steve Taylor ● 4038d

"From @Thameswater 12/01/15 20:43 In next hour #Mogden STW discharging storm water to River #Thames"makes it 5 discharges in the first 12 days of January !

Tim Henderson ● 4039d

“Instead expect such claims to be made during the last stages of the campaign when, she will figure, resident activists will not have the time or the resources to issue a rebuttal.  After all, as she has told us herself, we may call it dishonesty but to her it is only politics.”The  sad thing is that since Ruth Cadbury’s recommended  expansion of the site which went ahead in 2010, residents had to endure increased odour throughout the upgrade. Residents were assured by the Council that following the upgrade the site would be odour neutral. Residents endured the misery given the assurance by Ruth Cadbury that there was light at the end of the tunnel.  History has shown that the light went out and Councillors,  who backed Ruth Cadbury’s proposal,  scarpered. They were in fact sold a pup by Ms Cadbury who manipulated the SDC for reasons known only to her. Everyone is aware that the upgrade has been a total failure as far as raw sewage discharge to river and odour is concerned. Residents complain of almost daily odour in Twickenham Road these days.  Residents have not enjoyed an odour free Easter break for years. I suspect that this year will be same old, same old.  Residents will go to the polls with the full knowledge of who proposed the site expansion and who has done nothing to correct this stupid, stupid decision to allow Thames Water to go ahead with the upgrade despite all the evidence that was being presented within the charges of negligence and mismanagement at Mogden,  18 of which were found by a High Court Judge to be justified.I too look forward to John Todd's comments on how he will assist Mary Macleod and residents to deal with Thames Water! 

Steve Taylor ● 4039d

This is what I dislike the most about politicians, they treat with the utmost contempt the very people they aspire to represent.John Todd has put a lot of his personal time and effort into baiting the residents who are suffering the effects of Mogden and has now been completely wrong-footed by events.  His "response", if one can call it that, is to fall silent and hope that nobody notices.Ruth Cadbury in the meantime will be aware that the expansion which she more than any other elected member was keen to foist on residents at that now notorious planning meeting in 2009 has not delivered the reduction in odour that she confidently declared it would.It is self-evident that either Ruth was sold a pup by Hounslow's planning officers when she agreed to lead for Thames Water at that meeting, or else she was selling a similarly sized pup to her gullible committee colleagues.  Either way she owes the residents one big fat apology but will we be hearing of it?  Absolutely not.  Instead she is keeping her head down and will doubtless be hoping this will not be a big enough issue with enough local voters to sway the election in May.Thus far she has not issued any published material announcing that she has always opposed the expansion and has been leading the fight on the residents' behalf, but that is because she knows that if she does so it will be actively countered by those who are aware of the truth.  Instead expect such claims to be made during the last stages of the campaign when, she will figure, resident activists will not have the time or the resources to issue a rebuttal.  After all, as she has told us herself, we may call it dishonesty but to her it is only politics.The more one sees of these people in action the more tempting it must be to put a political match to the whole seedy lot of them.

Phil Andrews ● 4041d

Haven't there already been three 2015 overflows into the Thames in January ?Thames Water need to explain why either their modelling is rubbish or their sewage works doesn't work.

Tim Henderson ● 4041d

Yes it is strange that John Todd is keeping silent on the matter.  However, Mary Macleod has been extremely helpful and is delivering on all her promises to hold Thames Water accountable.  She has demanded a further site visit  and is fighting hard for residents. I am quite astounded though that Ruth Cadbury has run away from the problem. It was after all she who proposed approval of the site expansion and she who promised residents and SDC that if expansion went ahead the discharge of raw sewage to River would be reduced to “approximately once a year.”The expansion has been a total disaster as there have been 61 discharges of raw sewage  from Mogden to River Thames  from 1 Jan 2013 to 29 Nov  2014 Considering that discharge to River should only happen when all 8 Storm Tanks  ( 6 uncovered and 2 covered) are filled to capacity, it is not rocket science to calculate how many times  ALL the storm tanks have been used in the last two years.Ruth Cadbury foolishly recommended approval of site expansion without insisting that the 6 tanks were covered as a condition. Residents are extremely grateful that Mary Macleod is trying to clean up the environmental mess left by Ruth Cadbury.  I hope John Todd will support Mary’s  efforts and join her and residents in tackling Thames Water management once and for all. 

Steve Taylor ● 4041d