Richmond Council has denied Thames Water from filming a promotional video in the borough.

Thames Water recently requested permission from the local authority to film a video for a company campaign using Richmond upon Thames as the backdrop.

However, Councillor Roberts made it clear in a recent social media video, that before considering any filming in the borough, Thames Water would have to drop its Ham plant scheme "off the table".

He explained: "Here we are standing on Richmond Hill with this beautiful view over the Thames, a view which has inspired artists and poets and creative people over the centuries.

"And this is the view. This is the river that Thames Water wants to spoil by building a plant in Ham and pumping treated waste back into the River Thames.

"That is their ambition for Richmond.

"So imagine our surprise when recently we received an inquiry from a production company wanting to film a promotional piece for Thames Water, using our beautiful borough as the backdrop, the beautiful borough they are hell-bent on destroying.

"So on behalf of residents, we said no.

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"Thames Water, if you're watching this, if you'd like to film in our borough, take your plans off the table and then we might talk."

Last year, Thames Water launched consultations on its Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) project.

The controversial scheme aims to abstract up to 75 million litres of water per day from the River Thames upstream of Teddington Weir during dry periods and routing it to Lee Valley reservoirs for drinking water.

Meanwhile, extracted water is replaced by discharging treated sewage water from the Mogden Sewage Treatment Works via a new tunnel back into the Thames just above Teddington Lock/Ham.

A Thames Water spokesperson told Nub News: "A production company working on our behalf contacted Richmond Council to discuss possible filming in the borough as part of the next phase of our 'Biggest Upgrade' customer awareness campaign.

"The campaign is intended to explain the scale of investment underway to improve services, reduce leaks and cut pollutions, for the benefit of customers and the environment.

"The proposed film would update customers on what has been delivered over the past year and showcase how we are continuing to deliver improvements as we make the biggest upgrade to our network in 150 years."