Call to jail water bosses

South Hams leader wants someone behind bars

The leader of a Devon council says he ‘won’t be happy’ until a water company executive somewhere in Britain is sent to prison for polluting the country’s waterways.

The comment came from South Hams Council leader Julian Brazil (Lib Dem, Stokenham) as South West Water (SWW) faces a torrent of criticism.

A full meeting of the council voted unanimously to call for a ban on all bonuses and dividend payments until the company converts its current Environment Agency rating from two-star ‘requires improvement’ to four-star ‘good’.

SWW chief executive Susan Davy had been due to pocket an annual bonus of nearly a quarter of a million pounds this year, but turned it down.

Her decision came amid local fury over pollution spills into the sea and a vomiting bug outbreak in Kingswear and Brixham which meant around 16,000 households had to boil their water for weeks.

Cllr Brazil told the meeting: “How on earth can you be put on a bonus when you’ve been failing? If you can get paid a bonus for being absolutely useless at your job, there must be something wrong with the system.

“I won’t be happy until I see a water company executive going to prison.”

The council voted unanimously to pass an 11-part motion calling on the government ‘to recognise that clean water is a right and not a commodity’.

Members want bonuses and dividends banned until SWW has a ‘good’ rating, and if the company can’t do it within five years, it should be put into ‘special measures’ with a view to possible re-nationalisation.

The council wants a detailed plan on reducing water leaks, a full explanation of the Kingswear and Brixham bug outbreak and more power for the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

Susan Davy will be asked to answer questions before the council’s overview and scrutiny committee and attend a local ‘water summit’ meeting with local MPs, councillors and community groups.

The company will also be asked to repair damage caused to local roads and lanes by its heavy vehicles.

Cllr Jacqi Hodgson (Green, Dartington and Staverton) said SWW was “undermining the good name” of the South Hams, and said dumping sewage into the sea is ‘barbaric’.

“Taking water companies back into public ownership is the only way we are going to see decent water quality,” she said.

And Cllr Jonathan Hawkins (Con, Dartmouth and East Dart) added: “We have to hold SWW to account. They are failing all of us.

“We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, and to have raw sewage still going out into our rivers, beaches and streets is utterly unacceptable.”

Cllr Chris Oram (Lib Dem, Bickleigh and Cornwood) said: “SWW have treated our residents with complete contempt, and they have treated our environment with complete contempt. This is a fundamental failure of their duty of care.

“It is a scandal of epic proportions.”

Cllr Lee Bonham (Lib Dem, Loddiswell and Aveton Gifford) said the water company’s improvement plans were ‘a sham’, and Cllr Brazil said it was time to end the culture of ‘corporate greed’.

He went on: “These people are being paid massive amounts of money to do a job and they are failing. If you or I broke the law we’d go to prison, and I don’t see why they should be any different.

“There’s a culture in this country of corporate greed that trumps all, and we need to fight back.

“I want to see the CEO in front of us, justifying why she still thinks she should have her job.”