MPs are calling for the “inadequate” boss of South East Water to resign as 17,000 properties in Kent and Sussex remain without water for the fifth day.
Pressure is mounting on the chief executive David Hinton to step down as politicians describe the embattled company’s response to the ongoing outages as “totally shambolic”.
South East Water blamed the latest in a string of supply failures on burst pipes and power cuts caused by Storm Goretti, and said it is “working around the clock” to fix the leaks and bursts across the counties.
However, the company has faced fury from both politicians and residents, who have been left without water supplies for days.
Conservative MP for Maidstone and Malling, Helen Grant, said her constituents had been repeatedly left without water due to failures at South East Water.
The MP was one of six MPs who wrote a letter calling for Mr Hinton’s removal and said she has “no confidence” in him.
“It’s been terrible and we’ve had this before,” she told The Independent. “We feel the lessons are not being learnt by South East Water. Their communication has been dreadful. It’s really appalling, too little too late and often very confusing.”
“I have no confidence in the company and I don’t think they’re fit for purpose. The leadership team is inadequate and I think serious changes need to be made in the not-too-distant future,” she said.
“I haven’t come across an MP in Kent or Sussex who is not calling for Mr Hinton’s resignation. It’s been chaos and our position is clear – it is his time.”
The latest shortage also followed disruption before Christmas, when more than 20,000 properties were left without water.
Katie Lam, Conservative MP for Weald of Kent, described the water company’s response as “totally shambolic”.
“No information or the wrong information, no real interest in livestock, vulnerable customers left without deliveries, and no reliable number to call, even for members of parliament desperately trying to help our constituents,” she told The Independent.
She said thousands in her own constituency have only been able to get even bottled water because a group of volunteers – the Staplehurst Emergency Help Team – have provided it.
She said: “This is an extraordinary failure, and the chief executive of South East Water cannot keep his job.”
Sir Keir Starmer said ministers are holding emergency meetings every day as thousands of people are now enduring a fifth day without water.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for SEW to be stripped of its licence for failing “over and over again”, during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
Sir Keir replied that the situation is “totally unacceptable”.
He said: “He will want to know that ministers have chaired daily emergency meetings to hold the company to account to deliver on the change that’s urgently needed at the moment in all the areas that he mentioned.
Mike Martin MP, Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells, told The Independent that the outages are “having an unimaginable impact on the daily lives of residents”.
“I was at a primary school yesterday evening where the after-school club was filled with children of parents that have to work late,” he said.
“When the water is going in and out without any communication, parents are forced to fork out huge sums on last-minute childcare.”
“I don’t believe the leadership are fully empathetic to all these knock-on impacts, otherwise they’d have better comms. The CEO must go.”
Labour MP for Ashford Sojan Joseph said the company “need to step up and fix this quickly”.
“Their standards have not been good enough and residents have a right to be angry. These issues are a total result of heavy deregulation and neglecting water infrastructure,” he told The Independent, adding he hoped the government’s new Water (Special Measures) Act would hold CEOs to account.
The prime minister has also criticised the embattled water company, saying during PMQs that the outages are “clearly unacceptable”.
He said ministers had chaired daily emergency meetings to “hold the company to account” and warned they must “urgently invest in infrastructure”.
Ofwat, the water services regulation authority, has voiced “concern” about the latest outages, and says it will “review all the evidence” before deciding whether SEW has met its legal obligations to customer care.
The regulator can impose fines on water companies, ban unfair executive bonuses, force money clawbacks, and investigate failures – but cannot directly fire a water company’s CEO.
South East Water has said supplies will continue to be returned to people in Kent and Sussex throughout the day.
The majority of those still affected are in East Grinstead, East Sussex, where approximately 11,500 properties remain without water.
Bottled water stations remain in place in Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead and Maidstone, and location details can be found on SEW’s website.
South East Water bosses have been recalled to appear before MPs over a water outage before Christmas, as thousands of its customers suffer following the latest supply failures.
South East Water bosses, including Mr Hinton, have been recalled to appear before MPs on the parliamentary environment, food and rural affairs (Efra) committee, over a water outage before Christmas.
Alistair Carmichael, chair of the Efra committee, said he and his colleagues remained “deeply sceptical” about the water company’s version of events surrounding an outage affecting 24,000 properties in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, last month.
South East Water has repeatedly apologised for the water shortages. In a statement on its website on Wednesday, it said: “We’re extremely sorry to all customers who currently have no water or low pressure.
“We know how tough it is to be without water and this is not the level of service we want to provide. We are using every available resource to water supplies, from fixing leaks to rerouting water around our network.”
A South East Water spokesperson said: “David Hinton remains committed to resolving the immediate issues facing customers in both Kent and Sussex, whilst continuing to seek to obtain the investment to deliver the much-needed improvements in resilience to the South East Water network, detailed in the company’s business plan.”
