Thames Water: Progress

We wrote last month on Thames's rocky ride at the latest Area Forum in Maida Vale, where they were repeatedly questioned by residents and local Councillors on a number of aspects of their local policy.

Since then, we are very pleased to be able to report further progress.

I represented all three of us at a meeting in early December held at City Hall where Thames were questioned once again by Councillors and the public regarding their policies. I emphasised the effect that some of their policies were having on the local area - the regular breaking of the mains pipe on Kilburn High Road and the flooding in Shirland Road and Kilburn Park Road. It was a useful meeting and Thames seemed willing to listen.

Since then further meetings have been held between the Council and the local residents group leading on this issue, Maida Flood Action. On the flooding issue, we are very pleased that Thames have now accepted the case that more work needs to be done and are no working through the data collected by the Group to work out next steps. Slowly, but steadily, we are getting there!

Jan

Thames Meeting: This Tuesday

One thing we didn't write about a couple of weeks ago was the inquisition of Thames Water at the Maida Vale Area Forum, particularly over the flooding earlier this year.

Thames spent over an hour being questioned over their current approach to a number of issues in Westminster North. There was some pretty heavy questioning from local residents and the local flood action group about what they intended to do about flooding. We also spent some time taking them to task about the repeated failures of pipes under Kilburn High Road in the last eighteen months (as well as correcting them on their assertion that the Victorian Mains Replacement works had gone smoothly in Maida Vale - something a little bit at odds with reality ...)

It is fair to say that many in the audience were not terribly convinced by Thames comments on the flooding issue. We raised the issue of both Kilburn Park Road and Shirland Road residents who had been affected by this - Thames position seemed to boil down to the fact that they can't breath without the permission of the water regulator, Ofwat, and they will need to talk at length with them before anything can be done. This was likely to include many months of evidence gathering.

After the meeting we requested from Thames more detailed information about what they can and cannot do without Ofwat's permission. It should make an interesting read and we'll let you know as soon as we receive it.

In the meantime, Thames are also appearing in front of Westminster Council's Built Environment scrutiny committee this Tuesday (1st December). The meeting starts at 7pm - so if you want to go along and watch the grilling, please do. It will be held in City Hall, Victoria Street.

Lee

Water Leak on Kilburn High Road

Local residents near the top of the ward will probably now be aware that a water mains burst yesterday on Kilburn High Road (between Belsize Road and Greville Road), causing the road to be shut and quite a lot of water to leak.

Although the leak occurred just outside of Westminster, there has been some impact on Maida Vale residents - not least with the road closure, but also some likely damage to the public highway and properties on our side of the border. Westminster officers have been working through the situation since yesterday, including putting in place a full diversion for Kilburn High Road traffic. For the moment, we understand that there has been no loss of pressure to properties such as Tollgate - which is good news.

Westminster officers will be inspecting damage today and will seek to sort out any problems as quickly as possible.

This is the second mains burst in this part of the world in the last year, which does seem to suggest that Thames Water needs to look more closely at its pipe network. Westminster will certainly be making the case for this.

Jan

Thames: Just checking ...

Following the re-appear of a Thames hole in Randolph Avenue a few weeks ago, we've spent some time trying to confirm that there are no further plans to complete more Victorian mains replacement in our area ....

.... and we are very pleased to confirm it! A few end of project 'snagging' activities are being undertaken (such as Randolph Avenue - and also the one on Maida Vale). After that, they are going to bother other parts of London.

A warm and happy wave goodbye!

Lee

The Thames Hole Patrol: Randolph Avenue

Residents of Randolph Avenue will know that Thames appear to have again taken up semi-permanent occupation of a plot close to the junction with Elgin Avenue. As a result, we took this up with the Council several weeks ago and asked them to find out what was going on.

Apparently, the works are the last parts of the Victorian mains replacement programme that caused us so many problems last year - with the completion elsewhere in our area, some meter works needed to be completed underneath Randolph Avenue.

What is unacceptable, however, is that Thames (and their subcontractors) didn't provide the Council with information about this site when they should have done. Naughty boys and girls. As a result, they have been fined by the Council. Additionally, because they have run far over their intended timescales, the Council is also intending to penalise them for "unduly prolonging their works".

One day Thames will learn that inconveniencing local residents is not acceptable.

Lee

Maida Flood Action

In our post a few days ago about the heavy rains and flooding we mentioned that a group of local residents were getting together to pressure Thames Water to improve the drainage in some streets in and around Maida Vale.

The group is called Maida Flood Action and you can find out more about them here.

Lee

Heavy Rain and Flooding in Maida Vale

A number of residents have been in touch over the last few weeks about problems they have experienced with flooding in Maida Vale, as a result of the heavy rains of the last few weeks.

There appears to be a problem, particularly on Shirland Road and Kilburn Park Road, of the drainage systems not being able to cope with the large amount of water in our area at short notice. Consequently, there was a number of basement flats on these two roads which were affected by flooding. This doesn't seem to have been as a much of a problem in other roads - although please let us know if you live on one of those roads and did experience difficulties.

The Council has raised this issue with Thames Water to see if there is any problems with drainage and will continue to do so. We understand that a resident's group is also being formed to campaign on this issue - further details shortly.

Do get in touch if you experienced flooding - the more people that tell us about it, the more we can emphasise the severity of the problem to Thames.

Jan

Tollgate Gardens: Water Burst Update

We've now received a further response from Thames Water on the water burst in Oxford Road on 18 September.

Here it is in full:

(1) Why the main is repeatedly collapsing in the same area?
Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee the integrity of our Trunk Mains. This24" cast iron main has burst twice in the last two years. The bursts have been in fairly close proximity to each other. Whilst the main is fairly old, it has been visually examined and still seems to be in good conditionfor its age. We are currently testing the broken section of main removed from site and this should give us a better view of the "failure mode". Until these tests are completed it is difficult to comment on why it hashad two failures.

(2) What is being done to ensure that residents are not disturbed bythis problem in the future?
Firstly, we have a full contingency plan in place for any burst on this main. The contingency ensures a speedy response from Thames Water to minimise any damage or disruption. The plan was used for this event and the main was isolated, repaired and back in service within 15 hours.Secondly, we are investing in technology to help us identify bursts before they occur. This technology looks for small leaks that may turn into larger leaks/ bursts. These smaller leaks are then repaired before they cause a burst.

Not the fullest or most satisfactory answer we've ever seen, but it's a start. We'll keep working to get answers.

Alastair

Holding Response from Thames on water burst

Just a short note to say that we've received a holding response from Thames following our request for a full explanation on the Kilburn Park/Tollgate Gardens burst last week. We also asked them to justify the regular pattern of water bursts in our area (Dibdin House, Maida Vale/Edgware Road, Elgin Avenue) in the last year or so.

Apparently, the water main has now been taken to the rather-grandly named "Research & Development Laboratory" and further information will be passed to us once tests have been run.

We'll keep you updated.

Jan

A small blow for sanity

True to form over the last few months, Thames Water have been testing the sanity of local residents in Maida Vale. With Thames digging up most of Elgin Avenue once again, traffic flow and parking have been causing major issues and are likely to continue doing so for another month or so. It is another case of one of those 'grit your teeth' moments, whilst watching and jumping on Thames when they step out of line.

We have been in close contact with Thames over the last few weeks and have convinced them to do two things:

• have Thames begin to work on weekends in Elgin Parade - to get them out of this part of Maida Vale as soon as possible and to make sure local businesses don't suffer for any day longer than is necessary
• get out of Wymering Road - to our mind (and local residents) Wymering Road has already suffered more than enough over the last few years as a result of Thames. So, when Thames decided to take up 10 spaces as 'storage' we decided to the contrary and they moved out again very quickly.

We'll keep watching.

Alastair

Atholl and Braemar: Water problems

A number of local residents have contacted us today to report water supply problems in Atholl and Braemar Houses.

We have been briefed by the local Estate Office that there have been problems over the last 24 hours but that the intermittent water supply should have finished by mid-afternoon today (Thursday). Any resident who is still experiencing problems should call Montserrat Fas in the Estate Office (7 245 2223).

The problem has been caused by a reduction in pressure from technical difficulties associated with the Victorian Mains Replacement Programme in Elgin Parade. Thames have now re-routed the water supply to Atholl and Braemar via Maida Vale/Edgware Road, which has restored the pressure.

We have asked for a full explanation from Thames Water and will be expecting that they provide a full explanation to all residents affected (along with an apology). We'll keep you informed.

Lee

Photo of Braemar House courtesy of CityWest Homes

The unwelcome return of Thames Water

Thames Water are back.

Last week, Thames returned - with a bang - and have descended once again on Elgin Avenue. This time they have partially closed the road as they continue their Victorian replacement programme.

As local Councillors we do genuinely despair. We were not given any prior warning that the works were to begin and were only alerted by Randolph and Elgin residents who received a letter shortly before. The closure period seems particularly foolhardy. Elgin Parade businesses are now being hit with a double whammy - TfL screwing up the immediate area around the tube and Thames screwing up all of the left hand side of Parade.

It hasn't helped that all Thames seemed to do for the first five days was chalk up the road and then disappear. We raised this with Thames immediately and were given a rather vague answer about preparing the area and digging holes at either end which, to my untrained eye, didn't seem to align with what I'd walked past earlier that day. Nothing changes it seems.

The works started on 15 April and are due to last for five weeks.

We'll be watching closely over the next few weeks and have outlined in the strongest possible terms that Thames need to put their foot down and then get Elgin Avenue back to normal as soon as they have finished.

Lee

REJOICE

According to the latest works schedule, THAMES WATER HAVE ONLY ONE ROAD LEFT TO INCONVENIENCE IN MAIDA VALE!

Soon we will be free!

Lee

Biddulph Road: Hole disappeared.

The hole has gone! After nearly two months looking not terribly nice, the hole was filled in over the space of a few days at the end of November.

With the departure of most of Thames Water at the same time, all is well in Elgin Avenue again.

Jan

Full Council

Earlier this evening all three of us attended a meeting of full Council in Marylebone.

During question time, Lee pressed the Cabinet Member for Parking to look into the continuing problems with Thames Water/Laing O'Rourke on Castellain Road, Elgin Avenue and Wymering Road. He also asked for Thames to provide additional resources for the Council to support the parking suspension team. Cllr Chalkley agreed to investigate and come back to us.

All three of us also made speeches this evening. Jan spoke movingly about a former Councillor and Lord Mayor, David Harvey, who recent passed away. Lee talked in the 'Community Build' debate, strongly supporting the increased provision of intermediate housing within Westminster. Alastair seconded the debate on the proposal to increase the Mayor's planning powers - a proposal which we fervently believe will centralise control away from boroughs like Westminster - just at a time when we should be pushing power to the lowest level we can.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Elgin Avenue: Thames Works

The first problem with Thames in Elgin has arisen.

Signs suspending a portion of parking close to the junction with Shirland Road were not removed in good time once work had been completed, meaning that cars were still unable to park. A quick e-mail to the Director of Parking seems to have done the job, with the signs coming down on the same day as the issue was reported (Friday).

We'll keep watching.

Many thanks to the Elgin Avenue residents who got in touch to highlight the problem.

Jan

Thames: Unacceptable Slipping Standards

Last weekend Thames Water completely fell over in Castellain Road, creating a real mess. At one point on Saturday we were almost tempted to get the scissors out ourselves and start snipping at the parking suspension signs, such was the attendant mess caused by Thames failing to get out of the road on the day they were supposed to. Neither did they cover themselves in glory in Wymering Road a few weeks earlier. We hope there isn't a pattern developing here.


We're currently pursuing the matters with both Thames and the Council's Parking department. Last Wednesday we filed a letter with both asking for explanations on 12 separate points:

• Thames overrunning in Castellain Road by nearly a week
• Thames not informed the Council of an overrun (so a gully cleaning suspension for the following day was not cancelled either)
• Thames suspending bays which were actually not needed
• Thames working outside of suspended areas
• Thames temporarily closing streets to traffic without permission
• Thames' consistent failure (despite having said they would) to remove the graffiti they have scrawled all over every road they have been in (naturally justified by that all encompassing and ubiquitous term, 'health and safety')
• a lack of clarity on the signs suspending parking bays
• not enough parking suspension signs covering the area they actually relate to
• why Thames felt the need to suspend Wymering Road 24 hours a day (given that their workers sometimes struggle to appear during working hours, never mind at 2.30am on a random Thursday)
• a slow response time to replacing incorrect signs suspending parking bays
• why the paving stones going down on Castellain Parade are a different colour to the ones already present
• why there is a parking meter out of service on Castellain

We've also suggested to Thames that they might consider a letter of apology to residents in Castellain Road.

Thames moved onto Elgin last week - and their ability to live up to the promises made earlier in the year is critical, given that the road has a lot more traffic. We are watching closely.

We'll let you know when Thames responds*.

Lee

* 106 days last time, so don't hold your breath.

Flooding Letter

Thames Water are currently distributing a letter around affected houses in Little Venice/Maida Vale wards:

The text of the letter is as follows:

"Following my letter to you on Friday 12 October, I am writing to update you on the burst water main situation.

We have been working all weekend to repair the water main as quickly as possible. This repair was completed on Saturday evening. We are now focussing on reinstating the road surface on Maida Vale. We are consulting with Transport for London to ensure that this is completed to appropriate specifications. The road surface will need more work to it than originally anticipated, and we aim to have this completed and the road reopened during this coming weekend. We will then inform London Buses and they will reopen all affected bus stops.

We are still in the process of cleaning up the area, with the vast majority of the roads having had the mud washed off.

There is a detailed investigation taking place into the structure of this water main and our engineers are working hard to find a solution to strengthen this part of our network. This investigation will take a number of weeks to complete.

In the meantime, if you have suffered any damage to your property please contact our loss adjusters, Douglas Jackson and Co on 0207 407 5599 or our customer centre on 0845 9200 800."

Lee

Flooding Update

Update from Thames on the recent flooding in Little Venice ward:

Work to repair the leaking main finished this morning and for the remainder of the weekend the main will be cleaned, disinfected, flushed and sampled to eradicate any contamination. The main will probably return to operation early next week, with all houses being supplied via other parts of the network in the meantime.

Water pressure was mostly restored last night and Thames have not reported any calls from residents still with problems - please let us know if you are still having problems.

Inspection of the affected roads is currently underway along with cleaning and clearing. They are unlikely to be re-opened in the next few days.

Lee

Water burst in Maida Vale

Major water leak in Maida Vale and Little Venice this morning, as a Thames main burst on the Edgware Road-St. John's Wood Road junction.

Diversions are in place but some basement flats have been flooded. Water pressure is also down around the area.

At 10.30 we were told that the burst would be isolated and shutdown by 12, followed by an additional 2 hours which would be needed to drain the main and the area.

And it's causing traffic chaos - Edgware Road/Maida Vale is closed between Blomfield Road and Hall Road, along with the entirety of Clifton Gardens and Clifton Road.

We'll let you know if we get any more details.

Lee