Out of us, yes.Needless to say if LBH can do what it has signally failed to do over many years and actually persuade Thames Water that it has a duty of care to its neighbours then that is to be applauded. However, as they say on the Guinness adverts things aren't always how they seem.The simple fact is that the only meaningful action taken against Thames Water over Mogden has come from the residents in the form of the successful High Court claim through the Modgen Residents' Action Group (MRAG) which resulted in thousands of local people receiving compensation. Their bid for an injunction against Thames Water was frustrated by the London Borough of Hounslow when it granted planning permission to Thames to increase capacity at the site, an act supported by both Labour and Conservative councillors.The MRAG action was made possible through its painstaking work in gathering and logging complaints, publishing a contact address which local people could use to build up a profile of the plant's activities over a long period of time.The recent propaganda output by the local authority, including Labour Party leaflets circulated in Isleworth, has assiduously avoided any mention of MRAG and its long-standing campaign, instead urging complainants to contact only the hitherto useless LBH complaints line. It is clear the local authority believes that, with its superior resources, it will in time be able to freeze out the residents' campaign and to replace it with its own controlled campaign which, if the evidence of the past is anything to go by, will lead complainants precisely nowhere.The question one must ask is why the London Borough of Hounslow would wish to undermine a successful residents' initiative and whose interests it doing so will ultimately serve.The clue, if one is needed, lies in the co-operation that Hounslow is evidently receiving from the famously unco-operative management at Thames Water.
Phil Andrews ● 4257d