Thames Tideway Tunnel

Debate between Lord De Mauley and Lord Smith of Finsbury

Wednesday 14th May 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, of course not. Government estimates at 2011 prices were for a maximum bill impact range of between £70 and £80 per year. These figures remain valid as an upper bound and would take Thames Water customers’ sewerage bills to around the national average. The construction costs are currently out to tender with consortia of contractors. We also consulted last December on a competitive procurement approach for the financing costs, although no decision has yet been made.

[Lord Smith of Finsbury (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, the Minister will know that the Thames tideway tunnel is robustly supported by the Environment Agency, which I chair, and by the Mayor of London. It was also supported by a range of voices in your Lordships’ House when we last discussed the matter. Unhappily, cost and disruption will be involved, but does the Minister not agree that this is the only practical way of ensuring that we do not continue to discharge raw sewage into the Thames at least 50 times a year and of bringing an outdated Victorian drainage system, on which this city sits, up to the modern age?