'Rats' fight super sewer ventilation shaft plans

Campaigners are threatening legal action to stop a super sewer ventilation shaft being built near their homes.

Residents fear the 15 metre-high shaft will be built in Carnwath Road, Fulham, as part of the £4.1 billion project.

Options will be discussed tomorrow at a meeting between Hammersmith and Fulham council and campaigners Residents Against The Sewer (Rats).
Last month, Thames Water declared interest in the site off Wandsworth Bridge Road. Rats claim it was chosen over a bigger site at Barn Elms after the company was swayed by a campaign by Tory MPs Zac Goldsmith and Justine Greening and a host of celebrities.

Fulham residents fear the noise from seven years of construction and an expected 29,000 lorries will be unbearable. Ann Rosenberg said: "The legacy will be a 15 metre-high stink pipe, and there is sheltered housing within 100 yards with frail elderly people."

She said campaigners would consider legal action, possibly by judicial review, if "the human cost" is ignored.

Thames Water promised to listen to residents' concerns and said nothing had been finalised.