Theresa Villiers has published the following article on the importance of cleaning up waterways in her constituency:
“Pymmes Brook is one of my constituency’s best loved natural features, especially the stretch running through picturesque Oak Hill Park. Dollis Brook also weaves its way through precious green spaces in Barnet.
It is troubling that both of these waterways have been subjected to pollution incidents over the years.
These problems were recently considered in an article in The Times (which you can read here) which highlighted work of Dr Veronica Edmonds-Brown of Hertfordshire University. East Barnet resident Dr Edmonds-Brown has been monitoring water quality in the area for many years.
I first met her in 2016, when she and I walked along Pymmes Brook while she briefed me and my Conservative colleague, Cllr Jennifer Grocock, on what needed to be done to clean up the waterway.
London has two drainage networks. One set of pipes should take “foul waste”, which includes what goes into the toilet, to sewage treatment works. The other one sends “surface water” — rainfall run-off — to the nearest river.
The problem Dr Edmonds-Brown explained when we met is that some builders connect “foul waste” pipes from new homes to surface water drains. That ‘misconnection’ means sewage ends up in streams and waterways. This is of course completely unacceptable.
Following that meeting, I raised this issue with the Environment Agency, Thames Water and with Ministers via questions in Parliament.
Since then I have been pushing for action to clean up both Pymmes Brook and Dollis Brook. For example, over the past few months, I have been urging the water companies, Barnet Council, and the Environment Agency to take action against businesses which are discharging fat and grease into a storm drain which empties into Pymmes Brook where it passes along the back of properties in Crescent Road in East Barnet.
I also discussed Pymmes Brook with Thames Water when I visited their sewage treatment plant in Edmonton a few months ago. And I have taken part in volunteer litter-picks focused on cleaning up both Pymmes and Dollis Brook. The photo published with this article was taken in summer 2019 in Oak Hill Park.
In response to my latest representations, Thames Water yesterday told me this:
"Over the last eight years, we have carried out more than a dozen investigations along the Pymmes Brook following reports of a pollution. Our team works with the Environment Agency and council officers to trace the source of these pollutions before working with property owners to rectify the problem.
We have helped to resolve issues at over 400 properties during this time which has significantly reduced pollution in the brook.
However, ultimately it is the responsibility of the property owner to fix the issue and while the majority of people will comply when we speak to them, some do not. Unfortunately, we do not have the legal power to take action to force people to carry out these rectifications as this is something which sits with local authorities.
In the pipe shown in the [Times] article, there was an issue with 13 properties which had been incorrectly plumbed into the surface network. We spoke with the owners and nine have been resolved but four have not made the necessary changes.
Our team has reported these outstanding cases to the council and we are happy to support them if any further work is needed from our end but we are limited in the further action we can take."
So some progress has been made, and I am now urging Barnet Council to take action in relation to the four properties identified as contributing to the problem.
However, I continue to be worried about misconnections. More needs to be done to ensure compliance with the rules on connecting up pipes to the sewerage and drainage systems. This problem could be made worse with the extensive new development planned for East and New Barnet in the coming years.
So I will keep up the pressure on the Environment Agency, Barnet Council, Thames Water and Ministers. I know how important it is that we safeguard natural assets like Pymmes and Dollis Brooks. The Environment Act will help us tackle water pollution by setting new legally binding targets on water quality and by imposing tougher rules on water companies than ever before.
I brought that legislation forward to Parliament during my time as Secretary of State for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, and I will be doing all I can to ensure it delivers the improved protection for nature that is so desperately needed.”
You can read more about work being done to tackle ‘storm overflow discharges” here in an article Theresa published last September.
