Southern Water apology 'long overdue' as politician call for overhaul to the water management system

Water UK, the body which represents England's nine water and sewage companies, apologised for record levels of uncontaminated water being discharged into rivers and seas in the last year. The firms also issued plans for a further £10 billion in storm overflows between 2025 and 2030.

Lawrence Gosden, CEO of Southern Water, said: “I am completely supportive of the Water UK announcement today, committing to system-wide action and investment of £10 billion on storm overflows and apologise that action was not taken sooner on sewage spills in the South-East.

“At Southern Water, we’re already working to reduce the number of storm overflows, investing significant money to build bigger infrastructure and redesign a legacy Victorian sewer system, as well as using innovative technology and natural solutions. Further to this, in June, we will be announcing more detail on our plans and how we will work with our stakeholders and communities to deliver."

The move has been welcomed by some, but many say the apology is long overdue and fear the new plans could see a rise in water bill costs.

James MacCleary, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Lewes, told SussexWorld the apology was meaningless unless the firm was completely reformed.

He said: “This announcement is too little too late after years of putting public health at risk and large-scale environmental damage, which has previously been arrogantly dismissed by the water industry. The water companies and the government are both determined that any investment that Southern Water and others are forced to make is passed onto local residents in increased bills.

“This apology means nothing unless the firm is completely reformed from top to bottom. Protecting the environment should be more important than making overseas investors rich. Sadly, Southern Water still has their priorities all wrong.”

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Lawrence Gosden also announced today announced he will not be taking a bonus this year in his first year as CEO of Southern Water.

The industry paid out £1.4bn to shareholders in 2022.

He said: “Our board is sensitive to customer concerns on remuneration and has developed pay and bonus policies that reflect our environmental and customer service performance, as well as the challenges of our turnaround. In my first year as CEO, I will not be taking any bonus, because we have clearly not met the wider expectations of our customers."

Despite this, the Liberal Democrats are calling for water firms to become “public benefit companies,” and making it compulsory for environmental experts to sit on their company boards.

Mr MacCleary said: "I am proud that Liberal Democrats have been leading the fight to hold these water companies to account and are now proposing the kind of real change that is needed to start cleaning up our waterways and ensuring that profits from these vital utilities are reinvested in our communities.

“By contrast, our Conservative MP and government minister, Maria Caulfield, has spent recent years voting down tougher action on polluting water firms. They too owe people an apology.”