Water Compensation Reviewed
PAUL McLAUGHLIN
In a bruising exchange with local Labour MP Helena Dollimore in Parliament, the CEO of Southern Water, Lawrence Gosden, pledged to review the decision not to pay compensation to residents and businesses of Hastings and St Leonards affected by the water outage last year.
Mr Gosden appeared before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee on 21 January as a part of an inquiry into reforming the water sector. He was challenged by Ms Dollimore to explain why Southern Water “has the worst record of any water company when it comes to water outages.” He was also asked why the company’s response to last year’s water failures had been so poor.
The MP was critical of unfulfilled promises of bottled water, insufficient water stations, and severe traffic gridlock in the town, saying the impact on local communities was unacceptable, and the situation was “unbearable” for parents with babies. She also highlighted how the White Rock Hotel had had to fill buckets of water from the sea to flush its toilets. Mr Gosden agreed Southern Water’s response had been “completely unacceptable”, adding “the level of impact and the duration of the incidents were inexcusable.”
Ms Dollimore challenged the CEO to explain why, if his company’s response had been so inadequate, he had taken a bonus of £160,000 last July. Mr Gosden argued that things had started to improve under his leadership. The MP asked why no compensation has been paid to residents in Hastings, “including myself” who have had to pay water bills even “for the days when we did not have any water.” Mr Gosden explained that under the current rules “no compensation was due.” He admitted that this was “absolutely crazy” and that Southern Water had voluntarily put forward £1 million to support local community initiatives.
The Labour Government is currently establishing new rules which will require water companies to pay compensation to businesses and households whenever there is service disruption of more than 12 hours. Currently these will not be back-dated. However, it seems the imminent introduction of a stricter regulatory environment is already having an impact on the thinking of water company bosses. Southern Water, for example, has pledged £9.7 million to those who experienced water failures across Southampton in December, equating to about £160 per household.
When challenged as to why similar payments were not available to residents of Hastings and St Leonards, Mr Gosden said he would look again at the issue: “what I am promising you is to review that and to go further.” He refused to be drawn on a timescale but said he would be meeting with Hastings Borough Council to discuss the issue of compensation “this week.”
After the meeting, Ms Dollimore welcomed Mr Gosden’s apology for Southern Water’s failings, from sewage dumping to flooding to outages, and his commitment to look again at compensation. She added, “I am pleased that I was able to hold the CEO of Southern Water to account and push him to award compensation to 30,000 of my constituents who were affected by the Hastings water outage in May last year.”
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