Put Thames Water into Special Administration, says Witney MP

This will deliver the biggest review of the industry since privatisation. 

The Liberal Democrats have reiterated the need for more urgency in dealing with the sewage crisis, which plagues Britain’s coastlines, lakes and rivers. 

In Witney, Liberal Democrat MP Charlie Maynard has been vocal about protecting the waterways and raised the issue of Thames Water dumping sewage in the Windrush in Parliament.

Thousands of hours of raw sewage discharges were recorded across Oxfordshire last year, with the River Windrush through Witney receiving a total of 5,823 hours with 1,690 hours from Witney sewage treatment works alone.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed has launched the independent review into the water industry in response to anger over rising bills, bosses’ bonuses and pollution.

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Speaking yesterday (October 24), Mr Maynard said: “Even before this Commission begins, the government must act now by creating a new regulator with the teeth and power needed to hold these profiteering firms to account.

"Right now, Thames Water is planning a 53 per cent increase in consumer bills which is outrageous.

“Sadly, the government's approach is still a job half done. With £18bn of debt, Thames Water is in no position to invest what is required to get our rivers clean again.

“My key concern is that the Labour government will do a sweet deal with Thames Water’s lenders which will result in handing them the ownership of the company.

"This is not in the country’s interest. Steve Reed and Emma Hardy – don’t be bamboozled by bankers, put the company into special administration.

“It is time to put environmental protection above shareholders and creditors in the water industry, and finally put an end to this national scandal.”

Charlie Maynard MP in the river Windrush (Image: Contributed) Thames Water declined to comment and referred the Oxford Mail to Water UK, who did not respond as of press time.  

The Environment Secretary told LBC Radio: “The lack of water infrastructure is now holding back economic growth in this country, so we can’t build the homes that we need in parts of the country.

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“Cambridge, for instance, lacks clean water supply. Oxford lacks sewage systems sufficient to allow housebuilding to go ahead.

“A third point here is that by the mid-2030s unless we take action to increase water supply – reservoirs as well as infrastructure – then the demand for drinking water will start to outstrip supply, in a way that already happens in some Mediterranean countries.

“We cannot allow the water system, the water sector, to continue in this way.”

A National Infrastructure Commission report published in 2023 highlighted “no major water resource reservoirs have been built in England in the last 30 years”.

The Environment Agency said in 2019 that clean water demand could outstrip supply within 25 years.