Councillor Jonathan Rush has spoken to CHALFONTS&GERRARDSCROSSnews about the flooding issues in Chalfont St Peter.
Cllr Jonathan Rush is a Conservative Buckinghamshire councillor and has lived in Chalfont St Peter for thirty-seven years. He has been a member of district and county council planning committees for ten years. He is not standing at the 2025 council elections.
He said: “Thames Water’s management of its pipeline raises serious questions about its corporate governance. By this I mean, when planning permission for housing developments is requested from Buckinghamshire Council by developers, Thames Water is asked whether it has any objection to the application, in effect whether its system can cope with additional sewage and waste water flows.
“It is demonstrably true that during prolonged periods of heavy rainfall the existing pipeline can’t cope, let alone cater for the additional sewage and wastewater flows from new major developments. Incredible as it may seem, Thames Water’s standard reply is that with regard to its sewage system capacity, it has no objection to developers’ planning applications.
“By being repeatedly so economical with the truth, surely Thames Water is in dereliction of its public duty of care? What’s worse, by claiming there is no problem with its sewage system, under current planning regulations, councillors on the council’s planning committee, like me, are unable to challenge Thames Water and refuse planning permission.
“There is now, a planning application for a development of nearly 1,000 homes on the fringe of Chalfont St Peter in the greenbelt. Once again Thames Water has raised no objection.
“The current situation is a disgrace.”
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