Protecting our Chalk Streams: July’s Clean Water for Newbury Roundtable

At the start of this month, I brought together the Environment Agency (EA), Thames Water (TW), and Action for the River Kennet (ARK) to host the third virtual clean water roundtable.  Regardless of the uncertainty nationally around Thames Water’s (TW) future, the aim of each session remains unchanged: ensuring commitments made to our beloved waterways are translated into collaborative, practical action here in Newbury and West Berkshire.

Progress Since January

Since January, there are genuine signs that they are. The EA carried out around 850 physical inspections of TW sites over the past year – the highest ever – with around 22% of those identifying compliance issues. When we last met in January, that figure stood at 300, so that increased scrutiny is certainly welcome. 

However, residents have experienced these systemic failures first-hand for far too long. The real test is ensuring these inspections lead to meaningful accountability and I pressed the EA for greater public transparency around its findings and the actions TW is required to take. I’m pleased they’ve agreed to look at what more can be shared ahead of our next meeting. 

Alongside this, monitoring has also ramped up. TW confirmed that 34 water quality sondes have been installed across the Pang and Kennet catchments, complementing ARK’s invaluable and ever-expanding network of around 90 monthly Riverfly monitoring sites. The continuous data these systems generate are vital in identifying issues sooner and giving us a clearer picture in real time. 

Funding for the River Pang Project is now flowing too, and TW have allocated £375,000 to ARK to support additional community engagement, monitoring, land management, and education across West Berkshire. This is in addition to recent events ARK organised with farmer clusters and local land advisors to see what practical environmental improvements can be made across the constituency. 

They know our rivers better than anyone, and seeing this joined-up approach between ARK, local stakeholders, and community groups is hugely encouraging.  

Where Gaps Remain 

While advances have been made, a number of areas are falling short. I again pressed for answers over recent sewage incidents affecting Kintbury and Winterbourne following 950+ hours of storm overflow discharges during April and May. TW has committed to providing a detailed response before a follow-up meeting with me. 

Equally, groundwater infiltration remains a long-standing and unacceptable issue, particularly in the Lambourn Valley where the Lambourn Valley Flood Forum has worked tirelessly to spotlight the urgent need for sewerage network improvements.  The installation of over 1.5km of pipelining is a positive step but the EA and I pushed TW for clearer delivery timescales and evidence of how lessons from recent winters can be applied more effectively for local residents. They will follow up with me on this. 

Real progress is being made across multiple fronts, but after years of neglect and mismanagement, improvements must go further and I remain determined to hold agencies to account while working collaboratively wherever we can to ensure that our chalk streams - and the communities and wildlife that depend on them – are safeguarded for years to come.