2nd August 2022 

Portsmouth Road residents face 5 days of disruption as the road is closed to facilitate an electrical connection to the Seething Wells Filter Beds.

An electrical cabinet has been installed by Bed 7 (the only remaining bed with water) to facilitate a suspected pump to drain the final bed of water. Kingston Council believes this is Permitted Development but to date have sent no-one to investigate.

This sole oasis in the Martian landscape is home to swans, coots and ducks and has provided much needed foraging for sand martins, swifts and protected bats on site.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems have taken no further steps to protect the site, despite issuing an election leaflet saying they are best placed to turn the site into the nature reserve. The Green Party have also issued a leaflet claiming to have saved the site, but the destruction continues.

The Lib Dems’ Seething Wells Working Group has now met 3 times, with testimony from local residents, local experts and the site’s owners but to date this has not resulted in any tangible action to turn the site into the community nature reserve as wanted by many local residents.

Local campaigner Charlie Deacon says “It’s high time that Kingston Council steps up and offers to buy the site, or finds a suitable partner to do so. For too long local residents have watched in horror as precious biodiversity and heritage is damaged in front of their eyes. Now 5 days of traffic disruption to facilitate this is the final straw.”

Kingston & Surbiton Labour supports purchasing the site to launch a community nature reserve that celebrates the site’s rich biodiversity and unique place in the story of London, in fighting the cholera epidemic of the 1800s.