Political opinion with Alison Bennett MP: South East Water leaves taps running dry in Sussex

Over a four-day period last week, thousands of residents experienced significant disruption to their water supply. Homes in Cuckfield, Albourne, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint, Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath were affected, a local secondary school was forced to close and tankers had to supply water to the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

These disruptions were resolved within a day or so in each case. Our neighbours in East Grinstead were not so lucky, with 16,500 homes without water for five days. South East Water’s handling of the crisis was chaotic, exacerbating further outages in Kent.

During the crisis, I was in daily contact with South East Water, spoke in meetings with DEFRA Ministers, and liaised directly with our local councils. While I am relieved that this has been resolved, recent events underline the fragility of our water supply, once again causing chaos for people in Sussex and Kent.

Blaming normal January weather gives me no confidence that South East Water understands their responsibility for these failures. Back in December, alongside Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey, I supported my colleague Mike Martin, MP for Tunbridge Wells, as he called for the Chief Executive of South East Water to resign. The disorganised response to the recent crisis has not changed my mind and I was pleased to see my neighbouring MP, Mims Davies, add her voice to this call last week.

Beyond South East Water’s general failings, I am concerned that Mid Sussex, being on the edge of the water supply area, is especially vulnerable to outages.

Southern Water also have questions to answer. Disruption in Kent was compounded when it halted its contracted supply to South East Water while its Weir Wood reservoir, which could have supported East Grinstead, has been out of action for years. I asked the Minister to review co-operation between water companies, and she agreed this must be addressed.

Finally, many constituents are concerned about the impact of further housebuilding on water supply. On this, I am inclined to agree: the government must reform our water industry quickly if it wants to deliver sustainable houses for the future.