The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham Council has called an urgent public meeting to challenge what it describes as “Thames Water’s ‘ludicrous’ decision to dump the giant super sewer drive shaft on a residential street in Fulham.”

The Super Sewer Summit, on December 7, is intended to allow the local community to probe Thames Water’s decision to earmark south Fulham for the main sewer construction site for the £4.1billion Thames Tunnel.

A statement from the Council said that Thames Water’s u-turn, in deviating from their original choice outside of the borough, had sparked a wave of protests from residents and businesses.

LBHF said that Thames Water had named Carnwath Road as the ‘preferred site’ for the main west London tunnel drive shaft earlier this month - despite admitting at a meeting in October that using the Fulham riverside would be more costly and more disruptive to more people.

The public meeting, organised by Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council, will be the first chance that residents, councillors and the MP have had to publicly question Thames Water about their change of heart.

A "bizarre U-turn" by Thames Water

Cllr Nick Botterill, H&F Council’s Deputy Leader, said:

"It is ludicrous that a densely packed residential community has been selected as the main drive site when Thames Water officials have admitted that it will affect more people and cost more money. We need to understand what is driving Thames Water’s bizarre U-turn and then persuade them that there are better alternatives.”

According to the Council, fears have emerged that 29,000 lorries will bring roads like New King’s Road and Wandsworth Bridge Road to a standstill during the six years of construction work.

The anti super sewer site campaigners, backed by H&F Council, have vowed to fight the proposal and launch a concerted effort to persuade Thames Water to reverse the decision in time for the final selection deadline - which is expected next spring.

If construction work goes ahead on the Fulham riverside there would be an average of 31 extra lorry trips every day on west London streets for two years during tunnelling and around 33 per day when the tunnel is being lined.

According to the Council, Thames Water plans to move all plant and construction materials by road to reduce costs with only excavated spoil being taken by barge, despite the existence of the wharf being given as one of their key reasons for using Carnwath Road.

Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, H&F Council Leader described the super sewer as the biggest threat to quality of life that the area will face this decade – and a real and present danger with the potential to blight the lives of thousands of west Londoners.

The campaigners have now asked Thames Water to provide a document specifying how Fulham was chosen as the main drive shaft, including the pros and cons of using other sites, and to explain why their thinking has changed since the phase one consultation.