Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats have called for Yorkshire Water to be overhauled following the company’s sewage apology.
Yorkshire Water chief executive Nicola Shaw wrote to customers this week apologising and said she will refuse any bonus this year.
Ms Shaw admitted the company had not done enough to tackle storm overflows, which release raw sewage into rivers at times of high rainfall.
Tom Gordon, the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough, described the apology as “far too late” and “meaningless unless the firm is completely reformed”.
Mr Gordon called for water firms to become “public benefit companies,” putting environmental goals ahead of profits and making it compulsory for environmental experts to sit on their boards.
He said this would put an end to billions of pounds being wasted in dividends whilst sewage destroys waterways.
The local Lib Dems also called for an apology from local Conservative MPs for what it described as “voting down tougher action on water firms”.
Mr Gordon 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.
“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, Yorkshire Water still has their priorities all wrong.
“To add insult to injury, this Conservative Government and our local MP have spent recent years voting down tougher action on polluting water firms. They too owe people an apology.”
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Andrew Jones MP welcomes £180m pledge
Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, described Yorkshire Water’s pledge to spend £180 million between now and 2025 into reducing discharges from storm overflows as “a significant commitment”.
Mr Jones added:
“This is in addition to the £147m already committed in Yorkshire Water’s business plan. I am pleased to see too that the commitment is to do even more in their five-year-plan between 2025 and 2030. This will build on the decrease in the operation of storm overflows in Yorkshire last year.
“I note as well that dividends have not been paid to shareholders by Yorkshire Water since 2017. In the current climate this is the right call for the company to have made.”
Mr Jones added that although “significant progress” needs to be made on river quality, progress had been made.
Mr Jones (left) campaigning for better water quality at Knaresborough Lido.
He said:
“In 2009, 75 per cent of bathing water sites were classed as good or excellent. In 2022 the figure was over 92 per cent. This has been achieved through improved monitoring, infrastructure and enforcement.
“We have seen too much of the he-said-she-said politicking about this issue. Despite what some like to pretend, no politician has ever voted to discharge raw sewage into rivers. What we need, and what we are getting, is action – local and national – not US-style attack politics.
“That is why I am working with the Nidd Action Group, Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency, businesses and residents to compile a case to put to DEFRA to designate the River Nidd at the Lido in Knaresborough as a bathing water quality site.
“The survey work starts tomorrow and anyone who wants to join the team can contact my office or the Nidd Action Group through their website.”
Yorkshire Water chief executive apologises for sewage failures
The chief executive of Yorkshire Water has apologised today for its record on sewage and said she will refuse any bonus this year.
Nicola Shaw admitted the company has not done enough to tackle storm overflows, which release raw sewage into rivers at times of high rainfall.
Yorkshire Water has been widely criticised for its record on storm overflows and was fined £233,000 in January for discharging 20 million litres of raw sewage into Tong Beck at Bradford.
Ms Shaw joined the company in May last year and has yet to receive an annual bonus. Her predecessor Liz Barber’s last bonus was £679,000 in the 2021/22 financial year.
In a letter to customers, Ms Shaw said:
“There has been a huge amount of criticism of, and anger at, the water industry over recent months.
“I get why people are angry – seeing sewage in our rivers and seas isn’t right. We should have a system that befits the 21st century. So, on behalf of Yorkshire Water, I am sorry.
“We should have acted more quickly to change the situation. That’s why I have decided to refuse any bonus this year as I want us to make progress.”
Read more:
- Council leader backs River Nidd bathing water campaign
- Yorkshire Water discharged sewage into River Nidd 870 times in 2022
Ms Shaw pledged the company would “up its game” by improving the 190 storm overflows “that we know are operating much more than they should” and by “delivering our largest environmental investment ever”.
Yorkshire Water will spend £180m on storm overflow improvements in the next two years, which it said would help to reduce discharges by at least 20%.
The £180m investment will be spent on:
- Increasing storage within Yorkshire Water’s wastewater treatment works
- Preventing surface water entering the sewer system
- Reducing infiltration into sewers
- Small changes to the operation of treatment works.