London council rejects filming request for Thames Water 'hell-bent on destroying borough'

A London council has rejected Thames Water’s request to film in the borough amid a row over the firm’s plan to pump treated wastewater into the River Thames.

In a video posted on the council’s social media, the Liberal Democrat councillor said the authority was shocked to receive a request from a production company asking to film a promotional piece for Thames Water’s services “using our beautiful borough as the backdrop – the beautiful borough that they are hell-bent on destroying”.

Councillor Roberts told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the authority wanted to send the message that Thames Water does not “get to come and spoil our borough, and at the same time ask permission for it to form the backdrop for one of your nice promotional puff pieces”.

Thames Water’s plan to ensure London has enough drinking water during times of prolonged dry weather would see up to 75m litres of water a day taken from the Thames above Teddington Weir and transferred along a new pipeline to an existing underground tunnel.

This water would join the Lee Valley reservoirs, ready to become drinking water. It would be replaced in the Thames with “highly-treated” wastewater from Mogden Sewage Treatment Works via a new tunnel.

The scheme has attracted ongoing opposition from the council, local MPs, residents and campaigners, who have raised concerns about its potential impact on the environment, wildlife and human health. A petition demanding it is scrapped has gained more than 34,200 signatures.

Councillor Roberts said: “We would like to see Thames Water shelve these plans in their entirety. We believe that there are options that they haven’t looked at to solve the problem with water supply in the future.”

The River Thames near Ham Lands

Charlotte Lillywhite/LDRS

He added: “There are other options on the table, and we believe that they’re going with the TDRA scheme because it’s the cheapest one available.”

He said the council is “not backing down in our fight against Thames Water to get them to shelve these plans”.

Thames Water has previously said the scheme would meet water quality standards set by the Environment Agency, along with all relevant regulatory and legal requirements drawn up by the Government.

A Thames Water spokesperson told the LDRS: “A production company working on our behalf contacted Richmond Council to discuss possible filming in the borough as part of the next phase of our ‘biggest upgrade’ customer awareness campaign.

Richmond Council leader Gareth Roberts

Richmond Council

“The campaign is intended to explain the scale of investment underway to improve services, reduce leaks and cut pollutions, for the benefit of customers and the environment. The proposed film would update customers on what has been delivered over the past year and showcase how we are continuing to deliver improvements as we make the biggest upgrade to our network in 150 years.”

The firm plans to apply to the Government for a development consent order to build the TDRA project in early 2027.