Fuming residents’ warnings of overloaded systems have gone unheeded by statutory agencies, including Thames Water, Surrey County Council, and a string of planning inspectors.
Residents say repeated sewage spills are a health hazard.
In various parts of the Waverley borough, residents have experienced the filthy experience of raw sewage floating around their homes.
Alfold’s recreation ground and local gardens and footpaths in parts of Cranleigh were hit by the “Great Sewage Scandal.”
In Cranleigh, one resident of Elmbridge Road filmed the excrement and toilet paper swirling across footpaths and around their homes.
They live close to the Cranleigh sewage works, which residents claim cannot cope with the thousands of new properties currently under construction. They say they are reaping the misery of a lack of infrastructure.
In summer, they live with the stink, and now, during the frequent storms, they are forced to live with the foul stench from raw sewage lapping around their doors!
In the link below this quote, you can walk the walk through stinking sewage with one resident. Who told MPs Angela Richardson and Jeremy Hunt of her frustration.
sewage spewing into gardens and onto public footpaths opposite your sewage works in Cranleigh – again!! This is a health hazard!!
https://x.com/LynnPuttock/status/1720177214988091500?s=20
Raw sewage yet again overflowing into properties today with the recent rainfall
These are NOT exceptional circumstances! This government has failed to intervene and has created a toothless regulator.
Why has the Local Planning Authority not considered the necessity for water and sewage infrastructure and the ability to deliver it when approving major developments? The utilities are only statutory consultees, the Local Planning Authority has the planning authority and it could have chosen to be proactive in this issue. Some consider water security and sewage capacity a significant material consideration in the delivery of good urban planning.
Well what a surprise.
Has no one ever twigged that Planning Depts in councils only consider the case in front of them and bow to the incessant drive for more housing despite lack of infrastructure?
There is NO joined up planning, while guidelines state no development should proceed where there is no infrastructure they really don’t take notice.
The result is residents pick up the problem.
As Parish Council Chairman for 5 years I could write a book on this.
Buyer beware
It must be recognised that local planning authorities have to follow the planning regulations set by central government. They have no choice but to assess each planning application on its own merits. There is nothing in the NPPF about joined up thinking and it is heavily biased to the developers. A borough’s local plan identifies the infrastructure required for new housing, but that’s all. There are no statutory powers to enforce it. It’s simply left to the utility companies.
Here is a statement made last month by the acting CEOs at Thames Water: “Across many areas of performance, we are in line with water industry averages. But in some other areas our performance needs to improve, including some areas of operational and environmental performance that matter most to our customers and communities. It is clear that immediate and radical action is required”
It’s one thing admitting your performance stinks, but another to actually act radically.
They don’t follow guidelines, they regularly approve developments with zero infrastructure.
Utility companies are private, they do what is commercially viable, they don’t do radical.
It is a fact that planning committees have no choice but to accept a water company’s assurances regarding the supply of water and adequate sewage services for any development, a suspicion that the fact that they get paid for the supply of the same as soon as a property is occupied and that this might have some bearing on their assurances is not a valid reason to turn the application down.
It is mandatory that water companies supply water and sewage infrastructure but it is also mandatory that they don’t overdraw water from rivers and bore holes.
In the example of Dunsfold, there is no local water supply and it has to be piped from miles away, so that development won’t have water for 5-7 YEARS.
But Waverley approved it, thats how stupid they are.
Take the example of Loxwood – no available sewage treatment but development was approved and the new houses have sewage tanks – another case of no planning by CDC.
Need any more examples?
Mass immigration + no housing = chaos