Overview

Updated on 15 May 2025

What is this page?

This page contains the latest updates from the West London Communities project. It provides the context for why the project is being delivered and also gives you links to important related information, including recent newsletters, FAQs and other related projects going ahead that link to this one. Links to relevant documents can be found at the bottom of this page.

We will update this page every 6 months at this stage of the project; we plan to provide the next update in October 2025.

Latest project update

As we said in our previous update on this website, we were aiming to share further data on water level changes in the spring of this year. We have started our planned engagement internally with Directors and Executive leadership within the EA. Whilst they recognise the need, and urgency, of sharing data with communities, they are also mindful of changes that may result from the Government's spending review. The spending review will influence the funding available for the delivery of this project in future years, beyond the current appraisal work underway this year. Therefore, we have been asked to pause external engagement until we can also share information regarding the spending review and how this will impact the project.

We expect the Government to conclude the spending review by 11 June 2025. Defra and the Environment Agency will then work with the outcomes of this review to plan our investment into flood risk projects. After this time, we will be able to share a full project update, including a summary of the modelling outputs which were finalised in March 2025. We currently estimate that we will be able to share the complete information with you around late July 2025.

West London Communities Project Context

The Thames Barrier and associated defences were originally designed to manage the tidal risk upstream of the Barrier to Teddington Weir for the duration of its lifespan to 2070. Over the last few decades, the original remit has expanded to manage fluvial flooding to areas further upstream of Teddington Weir. This means the Barrier now closes more frequently than it would under the original operating procedures. If this elevated operation continues, then the Barrier will not be able to fulfil its original intended purpose with the required level of reliability. As part of the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan, which sets out how we can manage rising sea levels and increasing tidal flood risk on the Thames, we need to manage the number of Thames Barrier closures to preserve its lifespan. We provide further information on Barrier reliability and maximum closures in the related documents below.