London Citizens demand an end to private profiteering at Thames Water
London Citizens demand an end to private profiteering at Thames Water
On 5th November London Citizens took action outside of the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, demanding for Thames Water to brought into public control.
Leaders presented a giant cheque for £24 billion to represent the money that has be taken into private pockets since 1989, all whilst Londoners are left to deal with polluted rivers, soaring bills and poor infrastructure.
They’re wasting our money and treating us like we don’t see it. People are angry and we’ve got every right to be. The government could step in tomorrow if it wanted to. This isn’t about luxuries; it’s about water. The thing every one of us depends on to live. Yet somehow, we pay more for a spluttering system, and the bosses are swimming in the profits.
Nasser Bin Badriya City of Westminster College student and member of Westminster Citizens
The scale of Thames Water’s environmental and financial failures demands urgent action. Thames Water has seen a staggering increase in raw sewage, yet the company is trying to wriggle out of regulation, whilst loading up with even more debt and raising bills for the people it serves. We can't go on like this.
Lena Swedlow, Deputy Director at Compass
Since the London Citizens community listening this summer, frustrations and hardship have been brought to light, with families reporting their bills have risen up to £200, leaving several people struggling to pay. In addition to this, outages and leaks have caused residents to be left without water.
At the action, leaders called on MP, Secretary of State for DEFRA, Emma Reynolds, to meet with London Citizens to listen to impacts that rising bills, the water crisis and failing infrastructure has had on locals. They have also called for Thames Water to be placed into a Special Administration Regime (SAR), bringing the company under control whilst still protecting essential services.
Rob Abrams, Campaigns Manager at Surfers Against Sewage said: “By law, a company can be put into special administration if it can’t pay its debts, fails its obligations, or if it’s in the public interest. Tick, tick and tick again. It’s time to pull the plug, put Thames Water into Special Administration, and rebuild it as a service that prioritises people and planet, not profiteers.”
London Citizens is an alliance of 200 education, faith, charity, union and university organisations and is the local chapter of Citizens UK.