Back in the day: We delve into our archives to see what was going on 10 years ago, 25 years ago and 50 years ago this week
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10 years ago – September 4, 2014
Sewage shame
Thames Water has been fined £250,000 for polluting a local brook in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty two years ago, which forced the closure of a beauty spot.
Thames Water Utilities Limited was fined £250,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,887 at Reading Crown Court last Friday, for polluting the Chase Brook, Woolton Hill, in 2012, according to an Environment Agency statement on Monday.
The EA took up the case after Thames Water allowed untreated sewage to enter the Brook, which flows through The Chase – a 143-acre nature reserve owned by The National Trust, and a favourite spot for dog walkers.
On September 3, 2012, untreated sewage entered the brook after a discharge from the Broad Layings sewage pumping station emergency overflow pipe, owing to an earlier pump blockage.
Thames Water was found to have failed to respond to their alarm system, and attend and unblock the pumps, leading to the pumping stations wet well filling up.
The sewage was then discharged through the emergency outfall, rather than through the pumping station and sewage network, to a treatment plant.
Thames Water repaired the two blocked pumps and had organised a tanker to control flows.
However the raw sewage had already severely impacted upon aquatic life along more than 600 metres of the Chase Brook.
25 years ago – September 3, 1999
Bypass blooper
A red-faced Highways Agency has come under fire from all sides after it announced that Britain’s most controversial road, Newbury’s £100m bypass, is to be ripped up and resurfaced just 10 months after it was opened.
Work on the eight-week remedial scheme, which will cost more than £2m, starts on September 7, and will mean the closure of each carriageway for four weeks, with the traffic diverted back through Newbury.
The announcement by the Highways Agency has rocked Newbury and its long-suffering residents, who must now prepare for traffic chaos worse than in the pre-bypass era.
50 years ago – September 5, 1974
Grant grumbles
Having already committed themselves to spending half the money the council had made available for grants to outside bodies, Newbury District Council’s finance sub-committee has had to scale down the amounts they would have liked to have given to other applicants.
The Reading and District Council of Social Service, which covers a wide area of central Berkshire, had asked for £400, which was double what it received last year from the former Bradfield RDC whose area is now served by Newbury District Council.
They had only £1,500 available for all grants until the end of next March but they would consider the matter again if there was money available near the end of the year.
The Newbury and District Marriage Guidance Centre, which requested £200, is to receive only £150 and a similar amount is to go to the Age Concern organisation at Hungerford who had received £300 from the former Hungerford RDC last year.
Other grants made by the committee included £100 for The Samaritans, £50 for the Keep Berkshire Tidy Group, and £15 each to the Newbury Hard of Hearing Club and the Newbury World Poverty Action Group.
There was some opposition to making a grant to the Newbury Hospital Action Group who, said Mr George Wallis, were doing work which should be done by the council, but it was agreed they should get £40.
An application for a grant towards the repairs and maintenance of St Mary’s Church, Thatcham, was rejected as were pleas for help from the British Heart Foundation and the Elizabeth Fitzroy Homes for the Handicapped Trust.
