Thames Water fined 350 times in four years by Richmond Council

Thames Water's treatment plant is in Richmond

Thames Water has been fined 350 times in the past four years by Richmond Council for overrunning roadworks.

The fines issued to the utility company totalled more than £200,000.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: "Our customers and businesses in Richmond expect us to carry out repairs in a timely manner. We're sorry when this isn't the case."

The company previously revealed it leaks 24% of the 2.6 billion litres of water it supplies each day.

Thames Water's treatment plant is based in Richmond.

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Councillor Chas Warlow submitted a question about the repercussions of the roadworks to a meeting held by the west London council on 24 January.

The Green Party councillor's question read: "What assessment is being made of the impact - financial, environmental and inconvenience - of burst pipes, broken drains and sinkholes caused by Thames Water (TW) across the borough on the council, businesses and residents, and how many fines and for how much, have been levied on TW in the last four years?"

The council said: "It is not possible to ascertain the financial or environmental inconvenience on both the council's businesses and residents as a result of Thames Water street works.

"We can issue fines on a utility for unreasonably prolonged or mismanaged works," it added.

The council, which is controlled by the Liberal Democrats, cited "section 74 of the New Roads and Streetworks Act 1991" for the fines issued.

The spokesperson for Thames Water added: "One of our biggest priorities is to turn around our performance and our shareholders have recently approved an additional £2bn into the business so we can improve outcomes for customers, leakage and river health.

"In the next three years, we will spend over £55m installing dynamic pressure management helping to modulate pressure across our network for varying demands, helping reduce leakage. And in the next three years, we will spend close to £200m on replacing water mains."

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