Cookham figures question Thames Water take on Lower Mount Farm plan

The Cookham Society has called on the council to ‘forcibly challenge’ Thames Water for claiming existing infrastructure is sufficient to support 194 homes proposed for land near to Lower Mount Farm.

The combined total of documents related to this controversial application has reached more than 1,000 across two planning applications.

Among the mountains of correspondence is an email to Windsor and Maidenhead council from Thames Water, stating: “Having reviewed the application and the latest drainage proposals, it has been determined that the existing wastewater infrastructure is sufficient to accommodate the proposed flows from this development.”

But the Cookham Society has said it is ‘very surprised’ by this letter, given the ongoing flooding situation in the village.

“We are aware of one major fault in the sewage system serving this site and that is the Lightlands Lane pumping station,” the Society wrote in a letter to the council.

“This pumping station serves the whole of Cookham, and it failed totally in the 2014 floods.

“Thames Water only carried out minor remedial work to address this failure, these have proved inadequate, and the pumping station failed to function again in the floods earlier this year.

“In both floods, with the failure of the pumping station, sewage backed up in the network causing loss of a functioning sewage system and escape of raw sewage.

“Low lying properties between AL37 [this application site] and the pumping station are particularly vulnerable to sewage flooding, and this can only be worsened by an additional 200 houses discharging into the sewer system upstream of them.

“Working with Cookham Parish Council since the floods of 2014 we have repeatedly requested Thames Water to modify the pumping station to make it fully resilient and flood proof.

“They have failed to do so.”

At the RBWM Flood Liaison Group meeting on June 18, the flood resilience of the pumping station was again raised with the Thames Water representative, the society added.

“Regrettably, the indication we had from Thames Water was that no improvements to the pumping station flood resilience are currently planned and they are reluctant to even discuss technical issues with us.

“We note that Thames Water have indicated that increased capacity at Maidenhead treatment works will cope with the additional volume from this proposed development.

“This is appreciated but the sewage has to actually reach the treatment works first and unfortunately a non-functioning pumping station will prevent this.”

The letter goes on to request that the Royal Borough ‘forcibly challenges’ the statement given by Thames Water that the existing infrastructure is sufficient.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Thames Water are not statutory consultees on planning applications but can offer advice on how new developments would affect the local infrastructure.

“We work closely with developers and planning authorities across our region to ensure water and sewerage infrastructure can support growth, and where upgrades are needed to accommodate new developments, they will happen.

“We have published plans to upgrade over 250 of our sites across our region. This includes our Sewage Treatment Works at Maidenhead.”

The Lower Mount Farm homes plan is split across two applications 23/02019 (160 homes) and 23/02022 (34 homes). View them both in RBWM’s online planning portal.