“Major” burst water main blamed for causing outage just one month after the first residents moved into flagship redevelopment scheme, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

New homes at Oxeye Way within Meridian One

A “major” mains burst has been blamed for an outage that left the new residents of Enfield Council’s flagship regeneration scheme without water shortly after moving into their homes.

Council tenants who moved into Oxeye Way on the first phase of the Meridian Water development were hit by the outage last week, experiencing a complete loss of water and intermittent supply problems.

Last month, 20 families moved into the London Affordable Rent properties in a block forming part of Meridian One, the first phase of the wider Edmonton regeneration project ultimately expected to provide 10,000 homes. It represented a major step forward for the council-led scheme, which has been hit by delays and price cuts as homes have struggled to sell.

But weeks later properties were hit by water outages, between 18th and 20th October. The day after losing their water supply, one resident said that there had been no official communication or information about the incident.

The council said a “major” burst water main caused the outage, which Thames Water attributed to damage caused by a third party.

The council said in a statement: “On Friday, 13th October the area surrounding the Meridian One development was impacted by a major Thames Water burst water main along the Willoughby Lane area.

“The incident was immediately brought to the attention of the Countryside Partnerships project team who contacted Thames Water. The water outage impacted the functionality of the plant room on Meridian One which supplies water across the development.

“Although the water supply was initially reinstated, there were intermittent water supply problems between 18th and 20th October, affecting approximately 20 homes. Countryside Partnerships’ aftercare team met with residents at impacted properties who raised out-of-hours calls about the incident, and site management conducted a door-to-door check-in with residents.

“A fully functioning water supply was reinstated on the morning of Saturday, 21st October. Since this time neither Enfield Council nor Countryside Partnerships has received any further water outage calls from residents.”

A Thames Water spokesperson apologised to residents who had experienced low water pressure or no water. They said a third party caused damage to its pipe network, and the supply was turned off for a short time while it carried out repairs.

The spokesperson added: “Should any residents experience an issue with their water supply we would encourage them to call our designated customer service line on 0800 316 9800 for assistance.”

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