King Edward Memorial Park's waterfront, courtesy of SaveKEMP: www.savekemp.com
Thames Water is being accused of “ignoring over 10,500 people” and being “hell bent” on continuing the construction of the Thames Tideway Tunnel through King Edward Memorial Park, Shadwell.
According to the water company, King Edward Memorial Park will be used to connect the existing North East Storm Relief Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) with the main tunnel. An area of the park will also be used temporarily for construction works.
Thames Water have announced that after much resident protest and a 14-week examination period, the original 24 proposed development sites have not changed. Other areas of development include sites in Southwark, Fulham and Shadwell.
Thames Water explains that the proposed 22-mile-long tunnel will stop millions of tons of raw sewage from being dumped into the Thames with the system surpasses overall capacity.
The Save King Edward Memorial Park Campaign (SaveKEMP) released this statement: “We are deeply disappointed that Thames Water have ignored the overwhelming will of the local community and our elected representatives and decided to build on our only local park instead of a brownfield site that is earmarked for redevelopment. What they have failed to understand is that as a community, we are prepared to put up with some disruption as long as the park is saved. They failed to understand the very first premise of the campaign and, once again, they have shown utter disregard for our community.”
Emma Dunsire, Vice Chair and Campaign Coordinator for the Save Kemp Campaign explained to East London Lines that the campaign itself is not against the tunnel in principal but think the choice of sites are very poor.
She said: “Worst case scenario, we know that something has to be done in this area, and we’d rather put up with a bit more disruption, as long as the park is left alone.”
In response, Thames Water representative Nick Tennant told East London Lines: “The park will be saved, and the park will stay open. We think we can leave the park a better place and leave improvements behind us. That’s not to say there won’t be disruption, but the park will not close and we believe we can make improvements as a result of us doing this work.”
According to Mr. Tennant, “above all, the river will be cleaner and a more attractive thing to go and sit beside.”
King Edward Memorial Park Foreshore Plan pic: Thames Water
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The sheer arrogance of Nick Tennant is astounding! Yes, the park will remain open, but would you want to relax, play with your children, exercise in a major building site? As for temporary, three and a half years plus, is a pretty long temporary! As for improvements, we love the park exactly as it is, thank you very much. How on earth can he say it will be a better place, when he neither knows nor cares about our park or community? For 14 long weeks Thames Water told us they were listening and consulting with us. They neither listened nor heard, and the only part of consultation we got was a big fat CON!
All the way from down under, I knew that this would be the end result, as with big companies, money speaks louder than historic value, health of our children or even perish the thought, other’s wishes. When there is money to be made, the mere man has no voice or value and our future generations even less, so yes the expected result, but at least they could have pretended to listen.
I live nearby on Wapping Wall and run through the park almost everyday and love going and walk in there. It the ONLY green area for people living in East Wapping and West Limehouse area. This project is a complete disgrace and a two finger sign at the Wapping residents from a massive corporation. Raising children in London and achieving a quality of life is difficult enough. The mayor and politicians supposedly do all they can to improve the quality of life via cycling scheme, reducing car emissions, promoting greener lifestyles and they let THAT thing happen in Wapping. THIS IS A HUGE DISGRACE THAMES WATER!