David Langley was one of a quintet activists who attended a meeting with Southern Water in Waterlooville on 30th January. Here he tells us what happened.
I am pleased to report that we were well briefed and fully prepared as we took our seats in the third row of the community hall in Waterlooville. Typical of a late January evening, the journey to this meeting was under a grey, rain-filled sky. Plenty of water had fallen on us, but hey this was water – it’s what we’d come to talk about.
We were keen to let Southern Water know just how displeased we were with a number of issues — in particular the planned water recycling scheme that local residents are determined to prevent.
About 100 people were in the hall and mostly of a mature age, which would suggest that on a Friday night younger (and more sensible) residents were down the pub. It takes real commitment to spend that time holding your local utility company to account and we had commitment—oh yes, we’d show them!
While our host for the evening was Suella Braverman, the local MP who had just defected to Reform, we were not going to be dissuaded from asking Southern Water some tricky questions. What we didn’t know was that the company had brought a team of 15 specialists liberally distributed amongst the audience. Furthermore, their slick presentation appeared to have covered all possible angles. But we were not daunted!
What Southern Water didn’t anticipate was the genuine ill feeling amongst its customers about recently imposed higher bills and the prospect of yet higher bills soon to be landing on our doormats. And, of course, their appalling record of releasing sewage and the fines they had received for that.
The evening began with Suella Braverman demonstrating that she was on the side of the public by criticising Southern Water on a number of fronts. Some of her constituents had complained directly to her and she was making good use of this public arena. She was clearly not out to make friends in the water industry.
The welcome over, the first Southern Water presenter started his delivery, soon to be interrupted by a question. The evening was going to be quite difficult for the company, as most of the audience had come with grievances and were prepared to voice them robustly.
Other questions came thick and fast to the presenter who tried to note them down on his jotter. This had not been on the agenda! Our host intervened to regain some order in the meeting which then proceeded more politely.
The next presenter was also interrupted by members of the public questioning the accuracy of the data provided. It seemed that Southern Water had anticipated a meeting in which they would outline their progress over the past few years and calmly demonstrate their wonderful plan to add recycled effluent water into the drinking water supply. But we were having none of it!
One complaint repeated by numerous members of the audience was poor customer service. The meeting was almost hijacked by Southern Water customers who felt they had been badly let down. They had come to the meeting to address directly, face to face, senior members of the company.
Despite the intensity of feeling on show, the meeting continued with the final presentations by the company panel members and specific questions that had been pre-delivered to the panel were addressed. This was the moment our quintet had been waiting for, as we had submitted questions in advance. And our questions were laser-focused.
Our ecology specialist demanded additional safeguards given the risks associated with the wastewater recycling scheme. We raised other issues and ruthlessly pursued answers. What about Southern Water’s poor performance on leaks? The huge debt that has impacted the financial performance of the company that has meant a significant increase in bills? The environmental damage the recycling scheme could wreak? Had Southern Water considered other more natural and sustainable ways in which drinking water could be obtained through better storage in reservoirs and aquifers?
By now the meeting had already overrun and small break-out groups formed to address pressing matters. Our well-prepared and fully briefed quintet had contributed and felt confident.
So how did we do? Our questions were certainly addressed. We were listened to. Southern Water gave assurances that at the ‘examination stage’ of the Development Consent Order process we could raise our concerns and they would be considered. Our Friday evening had been worth it. We went home weary but pleased.
We shall see whether activism pays off!
Photo courtesy of David Langley.
