Actions & Outcomes
Quick List of Outcomes
A week before SODC was to grant consent a ‘Call to Action’ by concerned individuals, galvanised residents to write letters of objection to SODC, Thames Water, Taylor Wimpey, The Environment Agency, The Parish Council and our MP.
What has been Achieved?
- Over 150 objections were received by SODC by 22nd Oct.
- The decision date was deferred for 6 weeks
- Taylor Wimpey to produce a Flood Risk Assessment (FRA).
- A petition was started, now signed by over 1100 people
- BBC programmes on Thames Farm—part of a series on flooding
- The Henley Standard has run a number of articles
- John Howell MP raised the issue in Parliament.
- A sudden raised profile for the whole issue
- SODC and the agencies now taking notice
- District Councillors involved with intent and urgency
- The Green Party mobilised at local and national level.
- Formal Complaint to SODC
- A social media campaign raising profile of the campaign
- Taylor Wimpey engaged & more consultative approach.
- Taylor Wimpey removed hoarding and branding from site (presumably to disassociate itself with the negativity)
- Taylor Wimpey to replace Heras with close board fencing
- Over 220 residents joined the TFAG database
- 170 willing to contribute to a fighting fund
- TFAG has appointed legal representation.
- TFAG /PC have appointed JBA as Advisors
- JBA to produce initial hydrogeological assessment
Article created / last edited: 4 February 2021
Actions and Outcomes
Actions and Outcomes — SODC Planning
Following the initial ‘call to arms’ when one or two individuals in the village became aware of the Taylor Wimpey plans and the lack of information/publicity being given to them, c. of 150 residents complained to SODC regarding the plan to discharge surface water in Lashbrook. This was at a point when it appears that SODC were on the brink of approving the proposal which was due to happen on 23 October as evidenced by a subsequent Freedom of Information Request.
This action directly led to SODC stopping to take stock of matters; requesting Taylor Wimpey undertake an FRA; providing a timetable for that to happen, and allowing objectors 2 weeks to consider any FRA once submitted.
Enquiries were made of the authorities to establish what level of checking and validation of information had taken place prior to 23 October, and also the recent history of Planning submissions for the scheme as a whole.
Questions were asked of SODC Planning, the EA, OCC as LLFA and Thames Water, and the responses already given to the application hitherto. The findings of this exercise and seemingly very poor level of challenge and examination of the proposals by any of the relevant bodies ultimately led to the conclusion that it would be too risky for residents to leave matters entirely in the hands of the authorities; apart from anything else one, in particular, was potentially conflicted i.e. Thames Water who were likely to be a contractor for the developer as well as an approving authority.
TFAG were also concerned that the proposals had been submitted with no detailing at all of a number of key matters, compounded by the incredible, and hard to find discovery that the road works had been permitted by SODC to commence without a valid solution to the drainage issue having been agreed, which led to formal complaints of SODC’s actions hitherto.
Actions and Outcomes — Drainage Bodies/EA
Similar questions and enquiries were made with the regulatory authorities responsible for validating and approving the drainage proposals and there appeared to be high levels of confusion as to which of the relevant authorities had overall responsibility for checking and approving the proposals, with each one wanting to direct responsibility to one of the others and not accept overall responsibility.
Further enquiries showed that none of the Flood or Environmental permits that would be necessary to permit the drainage scheme or ‘grouting’ proposals to proceed had been applied for, nor had any study been undertaken to demonstrate the effects that the grouting of such a large area of land might have. The site itself is a catchment for adjoining land given the dip slopes around and behind Thames Farm and this geology gives rise to the Grade 1 Aquifer/Protected Zone below and around the site and also the potable water draw off that takes place to supply Henley and vicinity with its drinking water supply.
TFAG has made requests of the drainage authorities and found their responses to be woolly and inadequate and an analysis of the formal responses made to the Taylor Wimpey application demonstrated that if full and proper consideration of the proposals has been given, then there is no evidence of this in the published information at the web portal for the Application.
The inadequate responses and publicly visible information made it clear that residents would be ill-advised to rely solely upon the regulatory authorities for careful consideration of the many and varied problems that the Taylor Wimpey proposals might give rise to. This is particularly the case as Taylor Wimpey were utilising an approval process that related to their historic consent, which of course never envisaged sinkholes on-site or the works that might be associated with remedial works. It is these that give rise to the consequential desire to discharge water 2 km away from the site and….to a location that is already designated a protected Grade 3b, Flood Zone. No development would normally be permitted in this zone to avoid loss of flood capacity
We were also concerned having searched the web and found that Taylor Wimpey and other developers had a long history of flooding problems associated with many of their developments throughout the Country. These findings suggested to us that the regulatory controls and safeguarding mechanisms may well be inadequate, deficient or subjective and/or poorly checked/enforced in different areas of the country. Hence the need to bring in a specialist firm to advise the community.
Actions and Outcomes - Government & John Howell MP
Given that the current problems have largely resulted due to the original decision to permit Thames Farm housing at Appeal, we have sought to engage Government and make them aware of the difficulties.
It is almost impossible to access the relevant Government Ministers by direct contact and so we have sought to involve John Howell MP to raise the issue on behalf of the residents in his constituency. His appetite to engage was at first quite limited and he simply agreed to raise the issue with SODC and the Drainage authorities, but after persistent and progressive pressure he has done more.
On 8 December John raised a Parliamentary question in the House of Commons. The response to that question is evasive and not satisfactory nor does it properly address the issues. We are therefore persisting and encouraging more dialogue in order to get MOHLG more focussed on the problem and its resolution.
Actions and Outcomes - Press/Media
TFAG has been able to secure coverage of this issue on the BBC South Today TV broadcasts on at least 3 occasions now, and the content may be seen under the PR and Media links section of this website. Our tweet and social media campaign has been successfully deployed to focus attention on Taylor Wimpey and their CRS policies and lack of engagement with the community.
We have also harnessed coverage by the Local Newspaper, Henley Standard, and keep in regular contact with them to ensure pressure comes via the media and is kept in the public eye. The links to various articles and letters to the editor are available under the PR and media section of this web site.
Follow: Shiplake Community Twitter Feed
Peter Boros’s Twitter Feed
Whom we have brought in to assist and advise
At the present time, TFAG and the Parish Council have retained the services of 2 specialist firms of advisors.
1. Paul Eccleston - JBA Consulting (part of JBA Group).
Paul is JBA's lead for wastewater and has 28 years' experience in urban drainage, modelling, GIS and water and wastewater asset management. He has managed and delivered a broad range of flood risk management projects with JBA, including Drainage Area Plans, Strategic Flood Risk Assessments, Flood Risk Assessments, Surface Water Management Plans and Water Cycle Studies, working with water companies, local authorities and environmental regulators. JBA has also undertaken flood risk work for SODC
2. Polly Reynolds of Temple Bright LLP.
Polly a specialist in planning law advises on a broad range of subjects including planning and highway agreements, applications for lawful use, TPOs, defending town and village green applications, appeal and inquiry work and planning enforcement.
Article created / last edited: 17 February 2021
