Call to nationalise water firms amid reports Burnham plans mayoral oversight

Abbie Llewelyn, Press Association Political Staff

The UK Government has been urged to go further to fix failing water companies amid reports Andy Burnham plans to hand oversight powers to English mayors and other political leaders.

According to The Telegraph, the Prime Minister is planning to announce nine new regional bodies to oversee water firms.

These bodies would reportedly have local political leaders sitting on them, alongside public health officials, customers and environmental officials.

This idea was one of the recommendations of Sir John Cunliffe’s Independent Water Commission published in June last year.

While Mr Burnham has said he wants to see “greater public control” of utilities, he has not yet confirmed what form this will take.

Critics of his reported plan have called for full nationalisation or Special Administration Regimes (SARs) for failing utility companies, warning more bureaucracy will not solve the crisis.

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Tim Farron has called for water companies to be brought into public ownership, putting billpayers in charge rather than mayors.

He said: “After a summer of hosepipe bans and sewage being dumped at the first sight of rain, Andy Burnham thinks the answer is more politicians on boards.

“Water companies shouldn’t be controlled by mayors, they should be owned by the people. No-one is asking for more politicians and everyone knows there are better solutions.

“This isn’t a solution, it’s a stitch-up for the very water companies who caused this mess.

“Bills will keep going up, sewage will keep going in, and when these companies go under it’ll be customers who bail them out.

“The only real fix is taking water out of the hands of profiteers and putting it into mutual ownership, run by and for the people who actually use it. Everything else is window dressing.”

River Action’s head of campaigns Amy Fairman said the reports are “welcome insofar as they could bring greater regional planning and democratic decision-making into the sector”, but she called on the Government to go further.

She said Thames Water should be placed into a Special Administration Regime, which allows the Government to step in and take control of a failing utility company.

Ms Fairman said: “Nothing fundamental will change until failing water companies are taken out of the greedy hands of private investors.

“Thames Water is teetering on the brink of financial collapse while remaining Britain’s biggest polluter of our waterways.

“The Government should use its existing powers by placing Thames Water into a Special Administration Regime, breathing new life through ownership for public interest and environmental benefit, rather than shareholders.

“This is not about writing a blank cheque. The Government should use SAR now, without major cost to the Treasury or public, and regulators must enforce the law.

“We need urgent and decisive action now. More bureaucracy will not solve the corporate water pollution crisis.”

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.