Steve/Andrew Although not a member of SDC I witnessed the entire debate, partly via the live webcast from the Community Group office and partly from the public gallery. What was quite clear to me was that a lot of stock was placed on the planning officer's claim that her department had extracted every reasonable concession from Thames, and on her assertion that Thames would not be allowed by OFWAT to cover the storm tanks.  This, as we know, was untrue. It is my personal belief that the planning officer genuinely did not know the facts about the funding issue, and the fact that OFWAT - as was subsequently established by Daniel Lyons at the Hounslow Chronicle - would not have had any objection at all to Thames committing a small proportion of its very substantial annual profits to the cause of honouring its statutory obligations to the neighbouring community. But the fact is she should have known.  She should have been briefed to this effect by her senior officers.  She should also have shared with us the contents of the independent advice to which she referred at the meeting, part the text of which (I have subsequently discovered) read as follows: "TWUL could fund the work independently of OFWAT, and from its own resources, in the interests of improved customer service. There is very little precedent for this in the privatised water industry, and successful retrospective recognition of this significant capital investment would be subject to considerable scrutiny and testing against the stated regulatory criteria. "In view of the impact of such an investment and the uncertain financial and service benefits, it is highly unlikely that TWUL’s shareholders would choose to invest such without a real prospect of a return." Whilst this advice acknowledges that it "unlikely" that Thames would commit any of its own funds, it also clearly states that it had the option to do so (bear in mind also that, as a company which continues to operate in violation of its legal obligations and is only able to do so due to the department's unwillingness to enforce, Thames' situation at Mogden is hardly a normal one).  And yet the advice given to members at SDC was that it couldn't.  It's still there for everybody to see and hear on the webcast! It was on the back of this advice that members voted to approve the application. Under the circumstances it would be reasonable for any member of the Committee who supported this application on the strength of the advice given by officers to now acknowledge that he or she had been misled.  What is not reasonable is what I can only describe as the defiant stupidity of some members who still continue to protest that their actions on that night were in the residents' best interests.  They were not - I know they were not, and they know they were not.  Most importantly of all, the residents know they were not and it is my fear that the political reverberations will be considerable.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Tell me about Brentford	19/03/09 13:30:00	Paul Daubney
Re:Tell me about Brentford	19/03/09 21:39:00	Vanessa Smith
Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	19/03/09 22:24:00	Kath Richardson
Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	19/03/09 22:31:00	James de Vivenot
Re:Tell me about Brentford	19/03/09 23:03:00	Keith Iddon
Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/03/09 07:44:00	Jim Linwood
Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/03/09 10:27:00	Steve Bullman
Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/03/09 11:25:00	Helen Martin
Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/03/09 13:50:00	Paul Daubney
Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/03/09 15:10:00	Kath Richardson
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/03/09 16:35:00	Helen Martin
Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	21/03/09 02:32:00	Pat Skvarc
Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	21/03/09 14:09:00	Paul Daubney
Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	31/03/09 15:45:00	Julie Moore
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	02/04/09 23:27:00	William Micheal Read
Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/03/09 18:31:00	Chris Dakers
Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/03/09 19:29:00	Steve Taylor
Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	28/03/09 22:30:00	Andrew Dakers
Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	29/03/09 14:28:00	Steve Taylor
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	29/03/09 15:53:00	Phil Andrews
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	29/03/09 17:03:00	Steve Taylor
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	29/03/09 19:02:00	Phil Andrews
Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/03/09 19:42:00	Deborah Hall
Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	21/03/09 04:12:00	Marlo Hale
Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	29/03/09 15:54:00	Robert Lucas
Re:Tell me about Brentford	23/03/09 09:07:00	Mrs. Sue Cain
Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	23/03/09 21:36:00	Neil Chippendale
Re:Tell me about Brentford	24/03/09 15:57:00	Beccy Thorp
Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	26/03/09 12:57:00	Jon Hardy
Re:Tell me about Brentford	18/04/09 08:53:00	Barbara Dudley
Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	18/04/09 09:35:00	Phil Andrews
Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/04/09 12:20:00	Julie Moore
Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/04/09 13:25:00	Phil Andrews
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Tell me about Brentford	20/04/09 13:54:00	Julie Moore

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