Londoners living near an old Victorian waterworks say it has fallen into a horrific state and the riverfront is being wasted, as they throw support behind calls to turn it into a nature reserve.
Seething Wells filter beds in Surbiton were used to provide clean water to the capital before Thames Water decommissioned the 19th-century site in 1992. It is now privately owned by Cascina Limited.
Seething Wells Action Group (SWAG), made up of local residents, has been campaigning for the site to be turned into a nature reserve for years.
Kingston Council created a working group last year to investigate options for the site’s future, and approved recommendations put forward by the group on September 21.
Photo by Facundo Arrizabalaga – MyLondon
A council report said there was “increasing concern regarding ongoing maintenance and activity” at the site and the potential impact on wildlife.
The approved recommendations include the council exploring the possibility of providing a nature reserve on the site for public access, heritage and nature conservation.
The council is not the landowner so it can’t designate the site as a local nature reserve itself.
Surbiton residents told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) they would like to see the site opened up to the public as a nature reserve.
Yeni Frost, 42, has lived in Surbiton since 2008 and often passes the filter beds, which she described as being in “pretty horrific” condition.
Photo by Facundo Arrizabalaga – MyLondon
She said: “It doesn’t function as it should be which is a shame because when the weather is bad, for example, this could be a place that can be used to control floods. But if it’s not functioning then that will not work.”
Ms Frost said the site is a “hotspot for property” due to its proximity to Surbiton station and the River Thames. But she argued building homes on it would only “benefit the developer’s pocket” – not the local community or wider public.
Throwing her support behind calls for a nature reserve on the site, she said: “Especially now Surbiton [is] becoming more and more houses, having more natural things will make Surbiton a better place to live for families.
“We could have more plants or more birds or more animals, bees, that can benefit from this place.”
The council issued a Section 215 notice on Cascina in December 2021 requiring it to carry out maintenance works to improve the condition of the site, which the company appealed.
Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court varied the requirements of the notice on October 14, 2022, and gave Cascina more time to complete the works. This included removing all waste and debris from the land and vegetation growth from the boundary wall and railings.
At the meeting on September 21, Lib Dem councillor Roger Hayes warned there was still a “great deal to be done” to achieve the working group’s aims for the site.
He said: “Unfortunately, although the owners are better than they were, I’m afraid they were really not very good at all not so long ago which is why it has fallen into the disrepair that we see it in today.
“So hopefully they will continue to improve in their attitude and their behaviour and that we can collaboratively find a solution both for the benefit of the community and the benefit of the heritage and the biodiversity which that site is capable of supporting.”
Previous plans from Cascina to develop the site include an application in 2011 to build 64 homes on a floating pontoon, a 92-berth leisure marina, seven residential moorings and a restaurant, along with a public nature reserve, riverside walk and heritage centre.
The proposals were thrown out by the council in 2013 and later dismissed on appeal after a public inquiry.
Neil Brown, 56, moved to the area around four years ago and said the filter beds are an “eyesore” in their current state.
Photo by Facundo Arrizabalaga – MyLondon
He told the LDRS it would be “lovely” to have a nature reserve on the site, with opportunities for walks along the Thames. At the moment, he said, “this whole riverfront is just a waste”.
Mr Brown said he understood local opposition to homes being built on the site “because there’s enough traffic around here”.
He said: “I can see why people would be opposed to building houses on it and that’s probably the problem because people would love to be building houses [there].”
Josie Akbar, 62, moved into her home opposite the filter beds 23 years ago and slammed how the site had been left as “totally wrong”.
She said the filter beds were “filled with water, it was beautiful” when she moved in, and that she bought her home thinking that would continue to be her view. She said: “When we had really cold weather, the whole thing would freeze over. It was absolutely beautiful to look at.”
But she said the condition of the site had since deteriorated to the point that it “looked like a bomb site for months”.
She also said she was “very disappointed” that the council had not bought the site.
Ms Akbar added she was strongly opposed to homes being built on it, and that she would like to see a nature reserve there. She said: “It would be lovely if people then could get access onto it and use it, whereas at the moment it’s totally unsafe.”
A Cascina spokesperson said its contractors had started works some time ago to comply with the Section 215 notice, and that they were still in progress.
The spokesperson said: “The landowner would like to reiterate that the site has never been a nature reserve. Any vegetation that colonised the site was self-seeded (wind-borne) plants and trees that had to be removed as they were undermining the structure.
“The only way to deliver these community aspirations is a compromise by both parties brought about by enabling development.”
A spokesperson for Kingston Council said it is “fully committed to doing all it can to protect Seething Wells filter beds” but it has “limited powers” as it doesn’t own the land.
The spokesperson said: “On September 21, 2023, the Seething Wells Councillor Working Group, a cross-party group set up to investigate the additional options available regarding the protection of the wildlife and diversity at Seething Wells filter beds, presented formal recommendations to the council’s place committee.
“These include exploring the provision of a nature reserve for public access, exploring the options for heritage protection including potentially applying to Historic England for the entire site, and seeking proactive dialogue with the landowners to enhance the management and maintenance of the site.
“The recommendations were unanimously approved. A Section 215 Notice has already been served on the site, requiring the restoration of the structure and the removal of rubbish and waste from the land.”
