Criticisms of Southern Water in East Sussex: regulator urged to work closely with local authorities across south coast

Wealden District Council announced that Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, agreed to better partnership working with local authorities at a recent meeting of the Southern Water Stakeholder Group.

The council said it set up this group to put pressure on Southern Water following concerns about pollution and flooding.

Wealden Councillor Rachel Millward, chair of the group, said: “It was once again very useful for all the local authorities across the southeast to express their concerns and raise the local issues their residents face.”

Sussex councils have criticised Ofwat, saying it has not been effective in holding Southern Water to account.

Mrs Millward said: “The disappointing reality is that Ofwat – the regulatory body for our privatised water and sewerage industry – effectively allows Southern Water to mark its own homework, with no monitoring to ensure that promised improvements are made.”

She said Ofwat needs to take preventative action by checking that required works are completed before the system breaks down and sewage pollution becomes a major problem.

Mrs Millward continued: “Ofwat should ensure Southern Water has a plan in place to make sure they do the upgrades.”

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“We have major concerns about Southern Water’s performance,” she said. “While there is a complaints system, we are unable to see exactly how a local authority would raise those complaints with Ofwat or evidence that Ofwat is doing that work. We need much greater accountability and clearer routes to improving the situation for our residents.”

Lewes District Councillor Emily O’Brien, Cabinet Member for Nature, Climate & Food Systems, said: “Lewes District Council is committed to holding water companies to account for unacceptable levels of sewage discharge into our rivers and seas, and we welcome the recognition that Ofwat needs to work more closely with local authorities to do just that.”

At the meeting, the Stakeholder Group was joined by an Ofwat representative and Southern Water representatives. The Ofwat representative said Ofwat wants evidence in advance of concerns so it can hear from water companies how those issues could be addressed.

An Ofwat spokesperson said: “Water company performance on the environment is simply not good enough. We have pushed companies to take urgent action to cut sewage discharges and have recently announced new measures to penalise companies that fail to fully monitor their storm overflows. We also have new powers to take action against companies that pay out unearned dividends and can now stop customers paying for inappropriate bonuses. Over the last few years, we have imposed penalties of over £250 million and we are currently running our biggest ever investigation into six companies on sewage spills. Last year, we oversaw £2.2bn of accelerated investment and believe there is need for substantial improvements in infrastructure during the next five years and beyond.”

Southern Water said: “We work closely with our regulators including Ofwat and enjoy strong relationships with all the unitary authorities, district and borough councils across our region from Thanet in NE Kent to the Isle of Wight. We work closely with MPs and run regular customer engagement events so we can talk directly to the public about what concerns them.”