Minister Promises Action on Mogden

1.06.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 29th Mar 2004

The minister responsible for the water and sewage industry (Lord Whitty) met a delegation of residents and local MPs (Vincent Cable and Ann Keen) to discuss the growing anger over prolonged periods of odour pollution and Thames Water's inability or unwillingness to deal with it.

Following recent court rulings the way is now open for local councils to prosecute Thames Water over failure to take action. But at the meeting it was agreed that the government must also issue guidance indicating what standards the water companies have to meet. Residents are hopeful that the companies will be required to cover the plant. The Minister will visit Mogden in the next few weeks to assess for himself the seriousness of the problem.

Vincent Cable, MP, said that: "the Minister clearly understood the position and, since he was brought up in St. Margaret's, he knows the local geography. The point the residents were stressing was that Thames Water have endless scope for dragging their feet under the existing ambiguous arrangements. The government will have to be much more explicit about what odour standards sewage companies are expected to meet and over what timescale".