Statutory consultation summary report

The River Thames Scheme (RTS) carried out statutory consultation from 22 January to 4 March 2024.

Since the non-statutory consultation in 2022, the scheme has significantly advanced, shaped by feedback and ongoing engagement with local communities and other key stakeholders.

The statutory consultation earlier this year provided a further opportunity for these groups to see the latest design proposals and provide their feedback before the application for development consent is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in 2025.

The RTS held eleven in-person events around the scheme area as well as five virtual events, which were attended by over 2,700 people.

Key information that was presented at statutory consultation included:

• Channel design, downstream improvement measures, and impact on flood risk
• Preliminary assessment of the environmental effects of the scheme
• Landscape and green infrastructure design, including the active travel route and habitat creation areas
• Construction principles, including the approach to managing materials and waste during construction

The consultation materials, which are available to view in our document library, included a feedback form that respondents could complete either online or in a paper format to provide feedback on the information provided at statutory consultation.

The feedback form asked multiple closed and open questions. Closed questions being those where respondents were directed to choose from a list of available options or rank suggestions according to preference. While open questions were those where respondents could give their feedback in free text format. As well as using the feedback form, participants could also respond using free text emails or letters, and many did so.

All feedback gathered at statutory consultation, is being used to contribute to a consultation report which will summarise the findings. This report will also include information on how we have considered feedback and how this has informed any changes to our proposals or refinements on the scheme.

This report will be submitted as part of our Development Consent Order (DCO) application to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs via the Planning Inspectorate and will be available to the public following submission of the application in 2025.

In the interim we are pleased to be able to share a Statutory Consultation Summary Report (PDF) which presents the feedback received from the closed questions and summarises the responses to the open questions.