Parish councillor resigns over flood relief channel

A parish council's vice-chairman has resigned in protest over his colleagues' support for a flood relief channel he fears would destroy irreplaceable natural habitats.

Long term Wraysbury Parish Councillor Phil Jackson objects to the proposed route of the new Lower Thames Management Strategy which he says would pass through a sensitive nature reserve between Wraysbury Station and Staines Road, wrecking a haven for birds as well as damaging woodland and grassland. 

He is particularly angry that the official response submitted by the parish council supporting the scheme, did not contain any reference to his call for the channel to be rerouted though the three village lakes - Tithe Lane, Old School and Silver Wing.

But parish chairman Andrew Davies said: ""Mr Jackson's are the views of one person. We did include some of his comments in our response but not his suggestion that the channel should go through the lakes.

"Mixing river water with the lakes is not acceptable. The river contains fertiliser, pesticides. People swim and fish in the lake. Once the river and lakes were mixed they could not be unmixed. We could not condone an irreversible course of action."