TDRA Planning permission to Bypass Local Opposition and take national route

At the end of December 2023, the Government announced that Thames Water’s Teddington DRA application would follow a national planning process.

Steve Barclay MP (Secretary of State for DEFRA) confirmed that “…the principle elements of the proposed Teddington Direct River Abstraction project and supporting submissions be treated as a development of national significance for which development consent is required.”

What this means

Thames Water can apply for planning permission at a national Government level, directly from the Secretary of State. We expect their application will be made in early 2026, bypassing the local Government planning permission processes that are determined by Richmond, Hounslow and Kingston councils.

SOLAR views this decision with dismay for the reasons set out in our letter to Defra, on our website here.

We consider the TDRA scheme proposal does not remotely fulfil the criteria required to reflect a scheme of national significance.

The background documents can be found here.

See the Decision Letter here.

See the Teddington Direct River Abstraction Section 35 Direction here.