ROY Darke’s column on foul water flooding, Oxford Mail, November 26 interested me because, when the family first moved to Ferry Road, there was a sewage pumping station near the bottom of the road.

Presumably, because the council was planning to build an estate on the allotments at the Marston village junction, a new sewage main was installed which ran from that area and across the water meadows at New Marston.

Incidentally this sewer presented my father with a problem.

This drain went across his allotment and the contractors didn’t sort the sub from the top soil.

Since the pumping station in Ferry Road went out of use, it became the home of many rather fierce feral cats. I assumed that the Ferry Road sewer had been connected to the new pipe.

Those were the days when sewage and water were a council service and were paid for in the rates.

In its wisdom, the Government decided to privatise sewage and water, along with the Thames Conservancy. Since this was now a private company, the new owners looked to see how much money they could get out of it.

They were quick to make it clear that there was no profit to be made from the Thames Conservancy, forcing the government to set up the Environment Agency. (Care of the waterways has never been so bad.) Water, however, was an asset that could be sold, resulting in the cost to customers rising steeply and, because this new company (Thames Water) has London on its books, Oxford people are now expected to help pay for improvements to the London water supply.

As for sewage, you can’t expect them to update that since it will affect their shareholders’ profits.

DERRICK HOLT
Fortnam Close
Headington, Oxford