South Oxfordshire District Council has declared they have no confidence in Thames Water after a motion passed at its latest council meeting.

The motion also called for the government to put the company into special administration and return it to public control at it's latest meeting held Thursday night (October 24). 

Green Councillor Jo Robb, who is the council’s River Thames Champion, proposed the motion, and was seconded by fellow Green Councillor James Barlow.

In her speech at the meeting, she said: “Our water and sewage system is utterly broken.

“This motion sends a clear message that the current system is not fit for purpose, that this council has had enough, and that we demand real change.”

The notes on the motion state that sewage treatment works in South Oxfordshire have released untreated sewage into the river Thames for more than 15,500 hours so far this year.

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Thames Water is asking creditors for £3 billion in emergency funds, as its debts are set to increase to almost £18 billion by March 2025.

Speaking after the meeting, councillor Jo Robb said it was “timely” that the motion passed yesterday.

“We are seeing a company that is now quite seriously in its death throes. It’s time the government stepped in.

“It is a small indicator of the massive public outrage over privatisation, and I think government is behind the curve on this. The public want to see water brought back into public ownership.

"We have no confidence in Thames Water, and we want the company to be put into special administration.

“We have to learn the lessons of 30 years of failure and create a system that best serves people and nature, and not shareholder profits.”

(Image: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire) When approached for comment, a Thames Water spokesperson said: “We are taking care of water for 16 million customers across the region, every single day.

“We have an ambitious business plan for the next five years that proposes a total spend of £23.4 billion to help us meet our customers’ priorities, which include maintaining safe high quality drinking water, ensuring security of water supplies, delivering further environmental improvements, and building greater resilience to help us address an ageing asset base, climate change and population growth.”

The motion passed unanimously with no amendments and was supported by councillors across the political spectrum.

The council is also supporting calls to amend the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which is currently going through parliament.

The amendments include preventing the public from bailing out the water industry, to reform Ofwat to be in the interests of people and nature, and to appoint billpayers, employees and council representatives on the boards of water companies in England.

Government has the power to place water companies into Special Administration when they are in financial distress, or have breached their license or statutory duties to the extent that they can no longer operate.