Greens get agreement from Southern Water CEO to ‘reconsider’ compensation for householders
Green-led Hastings Borough Council called Southern Water to their second public council meeting last Monday, to face further scrutiny over their long-awaited detailed plan for Hastings.
In the public meeting, it was clear that Southern Water were trying to move on from past failings, stating that their new management team came with “good intentions”. CEO Lawrence Gosden said, “It’s not of our doing but we’re here to fix it.” Several councillors proclaimed a “lack of trust” and Green Cllr Becca Horn appealed directly to Mr Gosden to revisit the issue of householder compensation for the water outage in May. Becca said, “You want us to draw a line in the sand, and move forward – but this is preventing us. My plea is that you go back to your maths book and see what you can do.” Mr Gosden agreed to do just that.
On the flooding, Mr Gosden admitted that the manhole on South Terrace “should never have been built.” When asked about flood victims being unable to get insurance for their homes, Mr Gosden stated that residents could now go back to their insurers as the problem had been resolved. “They should not be getting high premiums now that the asset has been fixed.”
Regarding water pollution, councillors and members of the public alike pressed Southern Water for their ‘plan’ for Old Roar Gill, which they have now agreed to collate and share in their six-monthly updates to HBC. When criticised over their timeline for reducing bathing water pollution as “too little, too late”, Southern Water’s Managing Director of Wastewater, John Penicud, promised to set up a meeting with their Clean Rivers and Seas team to go through “the full plan for Hastings.”
Reflecting on the meeting, Green Councillor Mark Etherington, who holds Southern Water in his portfolio, said, “I’m pleased that our administration has managed to get their Senior Leadership to come into council twice now, and to commit to six-monthly updates. This seems to me to be essential. Though there is still much scrutiny to be done – and reparations to be made – we gradually make progress. Clearly, the level of debt in Southern Water raises concerns about the viability of their ambitious renewal and renovation plans – and the potential impact of increased bills on our residents. We will continue to closely scrutinise Southern Water’s performance.”