Anyone who has visited this site will know the frustration that many residents have felt about Thames Water — frustrations shared by both your local councillors and your Parliamentary Spokesperson, Steve Goddard. So, it’s fair to give a balanced picture. While many issues have been for too long needling local people and, in some cases, causing problems none of us would like to experience, it’s true to say staff from Thames Water have recently been jumping to it.

I say this because this morning I attended a meeting in Brookside about the continuing problem residents have there with repeated flows of sewage through the brook which gives the cul-de-sac its name. It was held in one resident’s house (thank you), had seven local householders present, and had two specialists from the Environmental Agency present, along with four from the Thames Water. For the first time, residents could feel they were talking to real people who could reply immediately to their questions. The result was not a resolution, as yet, but at least, it was an agreement on a way forward, with Thames Water promising to commission the work and report back regularly to the residents.

So, I’m not about to declare Thames Water my New Best Friend — there’s a lot of work to be done on the Brookside issue, as elsewhere. But, if what we have seen is a line of improvement which continues upwards, maybe next year they will be on my Christmas Card list!