Thames Water Works in Melbourne Grove

[rch]

Residents have been asking what is going on in Melbourne Grove with the double yellow lines - I've asked council engineers to send out a letter to elegantly explain the Thames Water letter that went out, but I'll post what I know here in the meantime in order to address concerns (please note that this is a layman's explanation and not official!).

The section of houses (odd numbers) on Melbourne Grove from the corner of Colwell Road to the corner of Blackwater were converted from old Victorian shops and workshops. Due to this, that section has a very odd arrangement of shared sewers which has been picked up during the ongoing sewer assessment that is being conducted in the area.

Thames Water has come up with a solution to address this arrangement, but it involves digging 5m deep ditches along one side of the road, hence the temporary double yellow lines to restrict parking.

The other side of Melbourne Grove (even numbers) will be kept clear to allow traffic to pass through, in an attempt to minimise disruption to the whole area (the other option is to close off the whole section, which would probably cause chaos, so the chosen set-up is the least worst option in my opinion).

The works are due to begin at 8am on Monday morning (Apr 22nd) and last for approx 4 weeks. They will start at the Colwell Road end and work sequentially to the Blackwater end. At the end of the works, the double yellow lines will be burnt off and we can go back to normal.

I would suggest that drivers plan to avoid this end of Melbourne Grove until the end of May, unless you live locally.

I've met all the engineers now and the supervisors who will be on site... they are all really pleasant and determined to make this as painless as possible.

[first mate]

Robin,

Thanks for the information. Does this mean that other roads will be done by Thames Water in the same way? I thought that the bulk of terraced houses had shared sewers...?

[Dr De Soto]

thanks Robin, really appreciate this update.

[the-e-dealer]

Sounds pretty standard not odd at all. Hope they aren't going to re-do all our drains!

[rch]

Dear Guys,

To clarify my layman's description... I didn't mean that shared sewers were odd, I meant that the shared sewer system along that section of Melbourne Grove was odder than most. There is a whole range of criteria to be considered which I am not qualified to comment on, but I don't think that shared sewers within "normal" terraced houses on other roads will be affected.