Canning Town floods: Thames Water accused of 'corporate irresponsibility'

A mayor has accused Thames Water of "corporate irresponsibility" after hundreds of residents experienced flooding for a second time.

Homes and businesses in Hallsville Quarter, in Canning Town, east London, were affected by flooding and a power outage last month.

Councillors have now been told Thames Water damaged a water main during separate works, causing fresh flooding.

Thames Water apologised and said repairs had been made on the same day.

Thames Water previously said the first flooding incident at the development complex had been caused by a third party pouring concrete into a sewer line.

The disruption meant residents had to pay for emergency accommodation in hotels for several days.

At the time, they were not given a timeline by the property's management company as to when they could be reimbursed for the cost of their accommodation and food.

Since then, at a Newham Council meeting on Monday, councillors have been told that Thames Water excavators damaged a water main while carrying out different works on a new connection in Hallsville Quarter - which caused flooding for a second time.

Alan Griffiths, Labour councillor for Canning Town South, said the flooding had "impacted the water supply for a while, leading to Rathbone Street being completely flooded", as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He asked: "Can the council confirm if Thames Water has told us what the cause of this is, and how do we make sure our residents continue to have faith that as a council we do everything in our power on their behalf?"

Newham's Labour mayor Rokshana Fiaz replied that Thames Water had informed the council "that while excavators carried out this connection, they damaged the water main prior to installing the connection".

She added: "I do want to say this: Thames Water is notorious in terms of its leaky pipes, and notorious in relation to its bungled-up maintenance programme that has led to a significant increase in water being lost in this day and age.

"It is right we draw our attention to the corporate irresponsibility of Thames Water."

Her comments come after multiple controversies involving the firm, which currently has the worst record on leaks out of all nine water companies in the UK.

Thames Water is also among five companies being investigated by regulator Ofwat over "serious concerns" about how wastewater treatment is managed.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: "During road excavations on Silvertown Way, Canning Town, vibrations from the work caused the mains water pipe beneath to burst.

"Our engineers were able to repair the burst pipe on the same day.

"We're very sorry to hear residents in the Canning Town area have experienced flooding.

"We take all reports of flooding seriously and would encourage local people to call us, where we'd be happy to address any concerns they may have."

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]