Plans to give mayors powers to oversee water companies will not save England’s rivers from sewage pollution, campaign groups are warning.
Andy Burnham is considering creating nine new regional bodies to hold water companies to account and oversee planning.
The idea was first put forward last year as part of Sir John Cunliffe’s Independent Water Commission and is supported by environmental groups such as the River’s Trust.
However, advocates of public ownership told The i Paper the idea would not improve the “fundamentally unworkable system” and would be a “cop out” by Burnham if not followed up with more fundamental reforms to the industry.
The campaigner and former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey said the plan would fail to properly clamp down on sewage spilling water firms.
“We’re simply replacing one committee with another committee. It will not work. It cannot work. It needs to be dropped today,” Sharkey told The i Paper.
“You have to change the ownership. That’s the issue at the heart of it,” he added.
Burnham plans to put mayors in charge of water companies
As part of his pitch to become Prime Minister, Burnham promised to introduce greater public control of essential utilities such as water.
It appears this could now take the form of nine new regional bodies led by local government leaders, who would be responsible for setting objectives for water companies and holding them to account.
While most water campaigners broadly welcome the concept, the move has sparked fears that the Prime Minister is shying away from a more fundamental reform of the ownership of water companies.
Cat Hobbes, director at public ownership campaign group We Own It, said creating regional boards will not solve the fundamental problem that a large portion of our water bills go towards paying debt and dividends.
England’s private water companies have been criticised for prioritising large dividend payments over the infrastructure investments required to reduce sewage spills. The left-wing think tank Common Wealth has calculated a third of bills goes towards paying debt and dividends to shareholders.
“What people want is public ownership. What Andy Burnham suggested was needed was an end to 40 years of privatisation. It’s not going to go down well if he’s dodging the fundamental issue,” Hobbes said.
Burnham, then Greater Manchester mayor, with other regional leaders outside Number 10 in 2024 (Photo: Justin Tallis/Getty)Praful Nargund, Director of the Good Growth Foundation, said “greater regional oversight of water companies is a vital part of taking water back under public control”.
However, he said the plans “must also be matched with a change in ownership”. The Good Growth Foundation has been lobbying for the creation of “non-profit cooperatives, owned by their customers and run in the public interest”.
A new postcode lottery?
Other organisations are more optimistic about the introduction of new regional water boards, including the Rivers Trust who said the idea has potential to be “transformative”.
“Fragmentation in planning, funding and accountability is one of the principal barriers to progress,” said Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Rivers Trust.
“We welcome these signs that the government is taking regional planning seriously. This is the only way to get better value for customers, build resilience to droughts and floods driven by climate change and reverse the decline in biodiversity.”
However, huge questions remain over the powers these regional bodies would have and crucially how they will be funded.
One concern is that the proposals could lead to a postcode lottery in water services, with some mayors prioritising the issue over others.
River Action’s head of campaigns Amy Fairman said the plans were ”welcome insofar as they could bring greater regional planning and democratic decision-making into the sector”.
“But how will these nine new bodies be funded and delivered, and what will they achieve that existing regulators have failed to deliver?” she said, adding that “nothing fundamental will change until failing water companies are taken out of the greedy hands of private investors”.
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