In response to the Motion passed by Council on 27 June 2023 (Minute 18 refers) representatives from Thames Water will attend the meeting to give a presentation and answer questions from the Committee on their investment plans for Reading and on the company's work and operations within the Borough.

Further to the Motion passed by Council on 27 June 2023 (Minute 18 refers) and at the invitation of the Chair, Richard Aylard, Sustainability Director, James Bentley, Operations Director, and Nikki Hines, South Thames Valley Stakeholder Engagement Manager, of Thames Water gave a presentation and answered questions on Thames Water's investment plans for Reading and on the company's work and operations within the Borough. Thames Water’s presentation covered several different topics including:

·                Recent leadership changes, the company’s liquidity position and shareholder investment;

·                Thames Water’s refocused three-year Turnaround Plan;

·                Thames Water’s recently published five-year PR24 Business Plan (for the period 2025-2030);

·                An overview of how a Sewage Treatment Works functioned, including an explanation of storm discharges and the reasons for needing to make them;

·                Ways that storm discharges from Sewage Treatment Works could be reduced;

·                An explanation of why flows in foul sewers increased after heavy rainfall;

·                A demonstration of Thames Water’s interactive storm discharges map;

·                An overview of storm discharge points within the Borough;

·                A summary of the number of storm discharges that had taken place within the Borough in the previous four years;

·                An assessment of Reading’s performance in relation to storm discharges compared to the average across the rest of the Thames Water network;

·                An overview of Thames Water’s plan to reduce the number of storm discharges it made by the Government’s 2050 target date;

·                An overview of the impacts of pollution on river water quality and the Reasons for Not Achieving Good (RNAG) status in the Thames River Basin area;

·                Planned investment at the Reading Sewage Treatment Works;

·                Past, current and planned sewer maintenance works within the Borough; 

·                A brief overview of Thames Water’s approach to dealing with sewer abuse from residential properties and food service establishments;

·                Guidance on what customers should do if sewer flooding affected their home and ways to report problems to Thames Water;

·                An overview of how Thames Water communicated with Council officers, including detail on the resumption of regular liaison meetings.

The Committee discussed the presentation and asked several questions and. some of the points raised included:

·       Thames Water and the Council’s Highways & Traffic Services Manager advised the Committee that regular liaison meetings between relevant RBC officers and their counterparts at Thames Water had been reestablished to proactively address problems within the Borough. Thames Water had also provided Council officers with its Professional Partners Line number and its dedicated Highways Authority number to allow professionals from both sides to communicate effectively on a routine basis and in emergency situations.   

·       Thames Water responded to concerns that the Council had invested large amounts of money resurfacing roads in the Borough only for the newly resurfaced road to be dug up shortly afterwards by Thames Water to conduct repairs and maintenance. Concerns were also raised about the effectiveness of traffic management measures put in place by Thames Water and by their contractors when conducting emergency repairs and maintenance in the town. These often resulted in traffic problems, particularly at pinch points in the town.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14