Sir – It is welcome news (if true) that Thames Water proposes to spend £500,000 on making Oxford's sewer system work properly.
It would be even better to hear that the city council would postpone approval on any planning applications that would add to the overloading of the present sewer system –– whether small-scale housing developments or massive new student blocks –– until the Thames Water scheme was complete.
Probable council response? “Oh, we couldn't do that –– there would be appeals against the decisions, a Government inspector would rule against us, and we'd incur huge legal costs.”
Perhaps if the Great Stink that periodically assails Headington Quarry and New Marston could be diverted to run under the windows of the planning department, that view might change.
Parliament has now given us a new Sustainable Communities Act that should empower local authorities to initiate their own actions.
Why not use it to address local concerns like this one?
Before the smelly seepage of toilet paper, tampons and turds becomes an epidemic-threatening deluge, some kind of drastic action is surely required.
Gordon Snow, Oxford
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