\n Campaigners have warned the problem is the result of long-term underinvestment in infrastructure.\n<\/p>\n
\n Greg Wilkinson, vice\u2011chair (non\u2011tidal) of the River Thames Society, said repeated sewage discharges into the river had left residents frustrated and angry.\n<\/p>\n
\n It follows a decision by Marlow Town Council made at its meeting on Tuesday to write to the town\u2019s MP, Joy Morrissey, and the Environment Secretary over concerns about river pollution and the future regulation of the water industry.\n<\/p>\n
\n The move followed a debate by members who all raised concerns about water quality but disagreed over how far the council should go in its correspondence.\n<\/p>\n
\n The letter, titled \u201cMarlow Town Council \u2013 Response to A New Vision for Water\u201d, raises concerns about high levels of debt within Thames Water, the risk that financial obligations to investors could take precedence over essential infrastructure investment.\n<\/p>\n
\n The lack of public confidence in the current regulatory framework, and the absence of a clear, timely and effective mechanism for regulatory intervention where companies fail to meet environmental standards.\n<\/p>\n
\n Introducing the motion, Councillor Mark Skoyles said residents had repeatedly raised concerns with him.\n<\/p>\n
\n He told the meeting that residents in Station Rise, Pound Lane and Fieldhouse Lane had experienced raw sewage flowing by their front doors in recent years.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s not an acceptable position,\u201d he said, adding that he wanted residents to know the council had done all it could to lobby those with the power to act.\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Skoyles said other councils, including Witney, Henley and Abingdon, had already passed similar resolutions.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, some councillors questioned whether the town council should be expressing views on the company\u2019s structure.\n<\/p>\n
\n Councillor Gary Nuttall said residents had consistently raised concerns about water quality rather than how Thames Water is structured.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cResidents are concerned about the quality of water,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve not had any situation where residents have said to me that the structure of Thames Water is wrong or how they use debt financing is wrong.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Councillor Liz Riches agreed that the council should challenge Thames Water over pollution..\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe have a right to say, \u2018clean up your act\u2019,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t have the skill base that says what the right way is to do that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite those concerns, councillors approved the proposal, instructing the Town Clerk to send the letter to Ms Morrissey and the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Any response received will be reported back to a future meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Campaigners have warned the problem is the result of long-term underinvestment in infrastructure. Greg Wilkinson, vice\u2011chair (non\u2011tidal) of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-638608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}