Water turned off ‘accidentally’ in Bexley for more than three weeks

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents had their water “accidentally” turned off for more than three weeks after officials used “inaccurate” maps.

Bexley councillor Lucia Hennis said water was turned off in Crayford due to works by Thames Water, after a previous representative assured her there would be no more problems in the area.

Speaking at a Bexley council places meeting on Tuesday of last week, she also said that Crayford Bridge had been leaking for more than five weeks, with water running towards the town.

Ryan Goodson, an area manager for Thames Water, said the work in Crayford Road was carried out to fix a sewer that needed repairs, and that inaccurate plans led to the town’s water accidentally being shut off.

Councillor June Slaughter added to the conversation, and repeatedly described the Thames Water works in Sidcup as “chaos”.

She said that the work in The Green to replace an old pipe started on August 3 and will be paused at the end of November and then resumed again in February.

The councillor said she was also annoyed by periods during the day when there was “nobody onsite doing anything at all”.

She said: “These sorts of instances that I’ve described are not appreciated by ourselves or the public, and I would like some explanation of why it is that your contractors so often don’t appear to be on site, which seems to have caused the programme to overrun.”

In response, Matthew Hackshaw, head of the South London region for Thames Water, said that pauses in work were done due to safety concerns and to ensure the drinking water in the area was safe.

He added that Thames Water was regularly in contact with the council about the project.

He also said the company was trying to get better at communicating why they are not on site, to which Cllr Slaughter said: “The problems amplify the need to have that communication.”

Pictured top: Councillor June Slaughter speaking about the problems at the Bexley council meeting (Picture: Bexley council)