Could it be that the River Thames Scheme project funding is at risk due to a proposal to convert Surrey County Council into Unitary Authorities? The RTS project (to reduce the probability of River Thames flooding downstream of Windsor) has been in development since the 2003 flood event. The original project included three new parallel channels, one widened channel and three weir capacity improvements. This project has been scaled back over time but still needs a Development Consent Order from the Planning Inspectorate in order to progress. Total development costs to date are around £100m.
In late 2019 Surrey County Council committed to a £230m contribution towards RTS Partnership Funding. In contrast Channel One (located in Berkshire) of the RTS was cut from the RTS project in July 2020 simply because Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead (on the other side of the Thames – in a different County – already a Unitary Authority – and in financial difficulty) was unwilling or unable to afford the required £53m Partnership Funding contribution.
Some Boroughs in Surrey are already heavily in debt – so are we on the verge of history repeating itself?
Surrey News articles by Chris Caulfield can be found here and here
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