Improvements in your area

Wastewater entering the STW is forecast to increase by around 10% over the next 10 years. This means that we need to increase the capacity of the site now to meet the needs of the community in the future.

We also need to improve the quality of the water that’s returned to the environment and reduce flows in the network of ditches that take flows from Slough STW to the River Thames.

What are the benefits of this work?

As well as treating more wastewater as the area grows, these works will:

• Improve the quality of water that’s returned to the environment
• Reduce water industry related flood risk along local watercourses
• Ensure that environmental flows are retained in the local watercourses
• Reduce odour around Slough STW
• Improve the resilience of Slough STW to reduce pollution risks

We’re developing designs at the moment and expect to start construction early in 2023. We expect the work to be completed and operational by early 2025.

Are you doing any surveys before the main building work?

Yes. To help us with the design, we'll be doing ground investigations along the potential pipeline route. These works are expected to start in late October 2021 and will be completed by early December 2021.

• We’ll be starting our ground investigations from 26 October for around 5 weeks
• We’ll be working in 2-3 places at any one time, each site will be in place for 3-4 days
• Each site will be relatively small and securely fenced off while we work
• We’ll be working at these sites 8am – 5pm weekdays
• We’ll do everything we can to keep disruption to a minimum

We’ll be drilling a borehole at each of our locations to assess the soil, clay or gravel at different depths. Afterwards, we’ll leave a small secure cover in place to let us monitor these boreholes. These will be removed, and the area returned to normal in 2023. If we need to work beyond this, we’ll write to you.

In early 2022, when our designs are more developed, we'll be holding drop-in sessions for the local community. We’ll be sure to write to local residents and businesses closer to this time with details for these sessions.

You can find out more about the project along with our proposed pipeline route in this information pack.

Please check back here for further updates as the work progresses. If you live in the local area, we’ll be writing to you about upcoming drop-in sessions soon.

If you have any further questions in the meantime, please contact us on 0800 316 9800 and quote reference number BB975460.

Housing development around the lake, as well as the five surface water sewer outfalls that now flow into it, have impacted the water quality of the lake. Over the years, silt carried into the lake by surface water and plant matter breaking down on the lakebed have caused a build-up of sediment.

We’re working with Wokingham Borough Council to remove this build-up. This will allow rare plants that have been lost to re-grow and improve the flora and fauna of the lake.

We’re also working to create a plan that will help us maintain the water quality of the lake in future. As part of this effort, we’re planning to install a small number of below-ground silt traps to catch sediment in our surface water sewers before it enters the lake.

We’re also looking at ways to create wildlife habitats and new viewpoints for the local community along the lake edge.

We expect the work to start in Autumn 2022 and be completed by Spring 2023.

We’ll do everything we can to minimise disruption to the local community when we carry out this work next year.

As work progresses there may be a slight increase in traffic in the local area. We’re looking at ways to reduce the number of vehicles we use to avoid this as much as possible.

During our work on the lake there may be temporary restrictions on public access around parts of the lake’s edge and in the nature reserve. This is to allow vehicles to access the area safely. We’ll keep temporary access restrictions around the lake to a minimum.

The nature of the work means that there may be times when noisy activity is taking place. We’ll keep the local community updated on our planned hours of activity and do everything we can to minimise disruption.

Please check back here for updates on our plans as they progress.

We’ll write to residents with details ahead of the work taking place nearer the time. In the meantime, you can find more information in our newsletter.

If you have any questions about our plans, you can email Mark Mathews, our Project Stakeholder Lead, or give us a call on 0118 946 7809.

For any other queries about Heath Lake please contact Wokingham Borough Council. You can give them a call on 0118 934 2016 (select Option 2). You can also send them an email.

The path of the water main will take it across Greenwich Park, and then along:

• Park Row
• Trafalgar Road
• Old Woolwich Road
• Lassell Street
• Banning Street
• Pelton Road
• Christchurch Way
• Telcon Road
• Tunnel Avenue
• Millennium Way
• Blackwall Lane

The water main will then connect into our existing network by the O2 at Tunnel Avenue and at Millennium Way.

The first part of the water main will be laid across Greenwich Park, from Croom's Hill to Park Row access gate. This first phase is scheduled to take place between 6 September 2021 – 28 February 2022.

The whole water main will take approximately 30 months to complete.

We’ll do everything we can to minimise any disruption to you while we complete this work. Temporary road closures may become necessary to ensure we can operate safely. We’ll keep you informed as work progresses - please continue to check back here for further updates.

If you have questions about this work and would like to speak with someone, please call us on 0800 316 9800 and quote reference number BB70030835.

Throughout our work the east side of Dartmouth Park will be closed, between the Dartmouth Park Hill entrance, the children’s play area and the park entrance on Poynings Road. The area of park off Bickerton Road will remain open. The basketball and games court will only be accessible from Bickerton Road.

The children’s play area will be removed. We’re working with Islington Council to provide a new play area once our work is complete. This will include replacing some play equipment.

We’ll do our best to limit disruption from noise and vehicle movements. Your water supply won’t be affected by this work.

Take a look at this video to learn more about what we’re doing.

We’ll start at the end of June 2021 for about nine months. We’ll be working Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm.

The installation will involve some minor work in a small area in the southeast corner of the site, near one of our site gates on Ardra Way.

Our work to install and test the unit will take around 8 months to complete. We’ll start work in August 2021 and be finished in spring 2022.

Our usual working times will be between 7.30 am and 4.30 pm on weekdays. We’re not intending to work any weekends during installation. However, there may need to be some weekend working between January and March 2022, when we test the new equipment.

We’ll do everything we can to minimise any disruption to you while we carry out this work. Although we are working close to the southern boundary of the site we don't expect our work to affect any of our neighbours.

The work may cause a slight increase to traffic in and around the site and along Adra Way. However, construction traffic for this project will be unlikely to pass through the main site entrance on Pickett’s Lock Lane.

Learn more about the work in our information pack.

We’re currently investing a significant amount of money in improving Beddington Sewage Treatment Works in order to improve the sewage treatment processes at the site.

These improvements will help to reduce odour emissions in the long run and will help generate green energy to reduce the running costs of the site.

Historically, treated sewage has been stored in lagoons prior to being pumped from the lagoons and spread over the wider site to dry naturally and become inert.

The new processes we're employing at the site will mean that sewage can be treated and then temporarily stored in an ‘enclosed’ covered space (2 Dutch barns) before being taken off site to be used for land restoration and potentially in the future agricultural fertiliser. These processes will significantly reduce the risk of odour emissions from the site.

The barns have now been built and the new treatment processes can start. However, there's still a lot of treated sewage sludge in the old lagoons which must also be pumped out and dried naturally on the wider site. This process will take up to 4 years to complete. Once the sludge in the lagoons is completely removed the lagoons, will be decommissioned.

As a good neighbour we'll continue to take every precaution with emptying the lagoons in order to minimise odours.

If you'd like more information, please call us on 0800 0093 916 or write to us at

Beddington Sewage Treatment Works
Thames Water
PO BOX 286
Swindon
SN38 2RA