A local campaign group has branded Thames Water's survey of recreational use around the Burnell Green Space in Kingston on Sunday (16 August) as a "farce".

Save our Lands and River (SOLAR) filmed surveyors with their backs to part of the towpath, and later positioned where they could not see the lower path or River Thames.

"They were then apparently absent for long periods while the area remained busy," a SOLAR spokesperson told Nub News.

SOLAR's time stamp of the survey is as follows:

11.30am

A resident later reported that a neighbour and a friend went looking for the Thames Water surveyors at around 11:30am but could not find them.

Earlier in the day

SOLAR filmed the surveyors sitting in a position where they appeared to have their backs to part of the towpath. Video shows runners and walkers passing behind them.



Around lunchtime / early afternoon

The surveyors were filmed leaving their position. Recreational users continued to pass through the area while nobody appeared to be counting.

3pm - 4.15pm

One resident reported spending this period looking for the surveyors and finding nobody. They said four neighbours were also looking and had the same experience.

3.51pm

A message in the SOLAR group questioned the surveyors' position beneath a tree at Burnell Green Space, noting that from there they appeared unable to see parts of the area they were supposed to be monitoring.

3.56pm

A resident reported walking the upper path from the start of Burnell Avenue to Hawker and seeing no sign of the surveyors.

4.07pm

SOLAR reported: "They seem to have left again…"

4.15pm

Another resident said they were at the site and could see no counters. They also recorded videos.

4.30pm

Residents walking through the area reported no obvious sign of anyone carrying out the survey, despite seeing numerous people walking past and using the water.

4.40pm

One resident described the situation as an "absolute joke", saying many people were walking past and were in the water while no obvious counting was taking place.

4.42pm

The resident who had searched between 3pm and 4:15pm confirmed again that they had found nobody.

4.49pm

Another resident at the site reported: "We are here now and there are definitely no counters we can see."

4.52pm

A resident noted that the group chat itself was becoming a record of the surveyors' "coming and going".

4.55pm

The earlier 11.30am unsuccessful search was reported in the group.

4.56 - 4.57pm

Further residents at the site agreed that no surveyors could be seen.

Speaking about the key points regarding its time stamp, SOLAR said: "The survey had been advertised as taking place until 7pm, yet residents documented repeated periods during the afternoon when they could not locate anyone carrying out the count."

There are also separate photographs and videos showing:

• surveyors positioned with their backs to part of the towpath;
• recreational users passing outside their apparent field of view;
• surveyors later positioned where the lower towpath and river appeared not to be visible;
• people continuing to use the area after the surveyors had apparently left.

Following the survey, SOLAR posted an Instagram reel highlighting its findings from Thames Water's survey, which reached over 190,000 views.

Speaking about Thames Water's survey, SOLAR's founder, Ian McNuff, said: "We note Thames Water has not responded to the key point asked of them that their surveyors were ignoring large numbers of recreational users and that this will invalidate their surveying.

"We do not condone any form of harassment or abuse. We are not aware of anything approaching that on Sunday. We'd invite Thames Water to confirm if they have reported this - we'd expect a responsible employer to do so.

"People using this stretch of river have every right to ask questions of those working on the Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA).

"Thames Water's public engagement on this scheme has been woeful, which inevitably means people turn up wanting answers on the day.

"Curiosity and frustration are not the same as abuse. If you couple this with Thames Water's long record of sewage spills, missed environmental targets, and financial mismanagement public disdain and mistrust of them is at an all time low.

"That's a general public reputational problem entirely of their own making and not anything we can help with."

He continued: "We would recommend going back to Thames Water to ask if they have reported the incidents.

"That makes up most of their response to the questions over the survey and we feel they are trying to distract from the truth that they are not conducting accurate surveys of the land which will form a basis of their planning permission.

"If there was any truth to their claims they would have a duty of care to those in their employment to report it to the police."

Another SOLAR spokesperson added: "If this data is going to be used to assess recreational use around the proposed TDRA scheme, Thames Water needs to explain how these gaps are accounted for."

In response to SOLAR's accusations, a Thames Water spokesperson told Nub News: ""We have been undertaking recreational surveys of the local area for more than two years to help inform the land use assessment for the Teddington Direct River Abstraction project.

"The survey that was undertaken on Sunday was one small part of a much larger, long-term piece of work.

"Our colleagues received abuse and harassment on Sunday, which is completely unacceptable. We would ask people opposed to the project to remember the impact that poor behaviour can have, and be considerate in their interactions with project staff. No-one deserves to be sworn at when they go to work."