MEP success on Thames clean-up

10.30.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 9th Oct 2007

Success can be declared in the campaign for European action to get a clean-up of the River Thames through stopping the current once-a-week raw sewage overflows into it by Thames Water. A further meeting of the European Parliament petitions committee has noted that actual planning for the £2 billion remedial tunnels to capture and channel the discharges for treatment has now begun.

A high-profile campaign waged over 3 years by London Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Baroness Sarah Ludford, including a petition to the European Parliament, led to the European Commission threatening court action and fines against the UK for failing to respect an EU directive it signed up to obliging treatment of sewage before discharge. Officials have told Baroness Ludford that the petition was decisive.

Sarah Ludford said:

"This is another EU success story for Londoners and I am delighted to have had the chance to play a vital role. I am very grateful to my constituents who signed my 2005 petition. The publicity and pressure we generated motivated the European Commission to take enforcement action. Londoners' health is the winner."

"I have advised the MEPs' petitions committee not to close the file, but to return to it from time to time to check there is no slacking. But my advice is also that it is better to hold off from fines - unless there is backsliding - and invest the money in the works."