The City of London Corporation has called on the Government to bring in stricter controls to stop raw sewage being dumped into the River Thames.
Last week its Policy and Resources Committee backed a paper expressing “serious concern” over the number of times raw sewage has been discharged into the river and the “devastating impact” this could have on its biodiversity. Its elected Members agreed that they were concerned over the Government’s response.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel, the main River Thames sewage scheme for central London, is already underway and will go some way to relieving the pressure on the river, but it will not be operational before 2025.
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The paper was brought on behalf of the City of London Corporation’s Port Health and Environmental Services Committee. Its Chairman, Keith Bottomley, said: “Dumping sewage into the River Thames causes severe damage to its biodiversity and is completely unacceptable.
“The Government must take urgent action and bring in tough new controls to prevent further harm to the ecosystems that exist within it.”
The City of London Corporation acts as the London Port Health Authority, the largest port health authority by area in the UK.
It is responsible for all port health functions on the tidal Thames, including imported food and feed controls, tackling infectious disease, food safety, ship inspections and environmental monitoring.
It also manages Blackfriars Bridge, Cannon Street Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Southwark Bridge and Tower Bridge, which cross the River Thames.
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