IT PROMISES to be another long, hot and smelly summer for people living in the north of Bexley.

Problems at Thames Water’s hi-tech sewage sludge incinerator in Belvedere, which began last summer, have still not been resolved.

For more than a year, the plate presses, which squeeze the water from the sewage, have not been working properly.

It means the £60m plant which opened only four years ago, is working to just three-quarters of its capacity.

About a fifth of the sewage which should be being burnt at the incinerator, is now being compacted into “cake” which is being stored in the open air, under covers and sprayed with an odour-reducing solution.

The situation, which is still no nearer a resolution, has infuriated both residents and Bexley Council, which summoned Thames Water officials to a meeting at the civic offices several weeks ago.

Councillor Ann Lucas, who lives in Belvedere, within sight of the sludge incinerator and was at the meeting, accused Thames Water of being “an extremely bad neighbour”.

She told News Shopper: “It (Thames Water) is totally unaccountable, it never communicates or apologises and it never tells anyone what is happening.

“It has promised it will not fill the open tanks with sewage, as it did last summer. But what galls me is that it promised all these sickening smells would be a thing of the past when the incinerator was built.” She said she understood the firm was now seeking planning permission from Newham Council to take some of the sewage by lorry to the Beckton sludge incinerator on the other side of the Thames, to be burnt.

The company says currently the sewage cakes are taken to be spread on agricultural land, and are not going to Beckton.

Thames Water has been forced into using a centrifuge to dry out the sewage enough to make the cakes, and a second one is being used to supplement the plate presses. “There is nothing wrong with the incineration process, but the sludge had to be a certain consistency before it can be burned,” said a Thames Water spokesman.

The problem with the presses coupled with an increase in sewage being produced in London, has slowed down the rate of incineration.

The spokesman added: We are not sure how long this will go on for and we cannot rule out odour problems in the future. We can only say we are very sorry for the smell.”