The area’s MP has said what needs to happen now
People who own and work in businesses and a charity have spoken about the impact the South East Water water crisis has had, while Tunbridge Wells’ MP says what needs to happen now. A major incident was declared by Kent County Council on Monday, as 30,000 properties in Kent and Sussex were without a proper water supply.
As we reported earlier today (January 16), South East Water (SEW) said supply had returned to the majority of customers in Kent, including all of those 6,500 affected in Tunbridge Wells. But while water might be flowing once more, the story isn’t over for SEW as MPs in Kent have called for its boss to resign, with Mike Martin MP for Tunbridge Wells, calling on the three owning companies of SEW to “sack the board”.
He told KentLive the water outage had moved out of the “crisis phase” and “once again into the accountability phase”. “And there are several irons in the fire,” he said, saying SEW was under investigation by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI); Ofwat; the Consumer Council for Water; and the environment secretary, who has called for its licence to be reviewed.
“So this is a lot of different things going on. On my side, I have written twice now to the investors of SEW, because they own it, and they are having an income from it.
“My basic question is, are they content with this level of gangsterism? SEW is acting like a bit of a gangster, in the way it is conducting itself,” he said.
His letter yesterday (January 15) followed the news the Government is considering stripping SEW of its licence to operate. The letter has been sent to: Rick Haythornwaite, of National Westminster Bank; Louis Babineau, of The Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec; and Andrew Fay, of Utilities of Australia Pty.
He told them: “I am urging you to intervene now before it is too late. Sack SEW’s leadership. Bring in a turnaround team to save our water supply – and your own investment.”
‘It normally happens in third world, we don’t expect this here’
Kash and Roshni Patel own the World Food store on the corner of Calverley Road and Crescent Road. Kash said: “We had to bring in around 30 to 40 litres of water every day for staff, as we had no water for the toilets.
“They could get drinking water here from the shop. We ran out of water to sell in the shop, so we got it from London. Booker completely ran out.
“It’s was a nuisance. It normally happens in third world, we don’t expect this here.
“But we were lucky our business was open. Other businesses had to close down, like restaurants and cafes.
“Some of them are struggling all the time and on the brink, they don’t have that much, cash flow issues, and this made it worse.” Their son who goes to Skinners’ Kent Academy missed school, as it had to shut due to the water crisis.
The water outage has hit footfall too, a perhaps overlooked impact of the outage.
‘This time it’s killed us’
Lee Thoroughgood, owner of The Framing Centre in Monson Road, said: “This time it’s killed us. We are not as busy as we should be.
“People keep away, they can’t wash. Schools are shut, so they can’t get in. We have had customers saying we can’t come as the kids are at home.
“And the last time before Christmas – they gave us compensation, but this kills the trade and the area. Compensation is okay, but you just want people coming down the high street.”
He said footfall was at least 50 per cent down, and his takings at this time, including the water outage nightmare before Christmas, compared to the same period 12 months ago, were 30 per cent down.
“I know the weather doesn’t help, but Tuesday was dire. Monday not great. Wednesday, a busy half hour. Thursday a waste of time. If we didn’t have the workshop, I probably would have closed early,” said Lee.
“I won’t try to claim from my insurance because if you do, the cost of insurance goes up. It’s hard to bear.
“You still have the VAT and the tax to pay at the end of the month. The RVP had to put a note up, I think on Facebook, saying please come to Tunbridge Wells we have water. Once trade is lost, it’s hard to get back.”
‘It’s been absolutely dire’
Next door at Sue Ryder charity shop, assistant manager Jade Hudson said they were hit by the water outage before Christmas, which saw volunteers have to miss days. They also had to deal with a blocked toilet and the logistics of going out to get water supplies, without keeping the shop shut for too long, and water having to come out of the shop’s expenses, which was “not great for a charity”, said Jade. They had to shut for one day.
This time, the shop has again been hit hard by the drop in custom, although they have water, she said. “This week has been absolutely dire because of the footfall. There’s absolutely no-one about.
“Yesterday, we had one of the worst days my manager had seen since she started here. It’s also because of the weather. People just don’t want to go out.
“And because of that, we haven’t had donations. We have not met our target this week. But this time around, not having the water supply issue, we are counting our lucky stars, one million per cent.”
Lynn Perry, manager at The Royal Oak, on the corner of Prospect Road and Bayhall Road, said the pub had to shut early yesterday. That was a real shame, as Thursdays are when the pub’s football team go in after practice, and the Royal Tunbridge Wells Orpheus Male Choir visit after rehearsals at nearby St Peter’s Church.
“Thursday is one of my busiest days. The football team and the choir come in. We have two tanks upstairs so we could keep going for some time. It was a pain.
“I had to wash everything by hand, that probably took 30 bottles of water,” said Lynn.
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