Viewpoint: Hope for end to water company self-regulation

Hope for end to water firms’ self-regulation

Since 1962 our Society has helped to protect and promote the River Thames from its source to the sea.

I write to express our concern, which was highlighted by the recent Channel 4 documentary ‘Dirty Business’, about the degradation of regulatory oversight in the water industry with the Environment Agency failing to police the water companies, notably Thames Water, which has led to a self-regulation system that is demonstrably failing to protect our rivers.

This failure has visible and distressing consequences with pollution levels remaining unacceptably high, ecosystems under increasing stress and public confidence in both the regulator and the industry eroded.

The Society strongly believes that independent, rigorous and transparent regulation is essential if we are to restore both the health of our rivers and public trust.

We therefore welcome the principles set out in the White Paper ‘A New Vision for Water’ and hope that its implementation will mark a decisive end to the era of self-regulation but we urge that it should result in a strategy that confronts the weaknesses of the present model of water company ownership and operation.

Bold infrastructure solutions are vital along the wider Thames Valley, akin to the Thames Tideway Tunnel, with strategic investment that will ensure that sewage is properly intercepted and treated, preventing future pollution and safeguarding the river for generations to come.

The Society stands ready to work with government, regulators and industry to ensure that the River Thames, our most iconic natural, cultural and economic asset can once again thrive.

PETER FINCH

Chairman

River Thames Society

Councils should unite to take on Government

I watched the RBWM Budget Council on March 3.

It was, perhaps, the saddest thing I’ve witnessed since we euthanised the family dog (beloved Barney) in 2019.

The same mood of helpless fatalism permeated the chamber as was present in that cold veterinary consulting room almost exactly seven years before.

The financial disaster, dormant for many years but brought into full bloom by the current administration, was revealed in all its hideous Triffid foliage and the future for RBWM residents was starkly exposed.

And what a grim future it is.

Endless years of council tax (CT) rises at three, four even five times the rate of inflation.

Debt rising to levels that can never be repaid and interest charges that will devour up to a third of our annual income.

Of hope, there was none, at least not from this passive, near comatose administration. Indeed, one senior councillor wished future administrations ‘the best of British’, signalling, no doubt, his intention to run away rather than slay the dragon, which is odd, given his background.

Yet, amongst the opposition, there was a spark of resistance. Cllrs Carpenter and Douglas (the Borough First Independents) struck a note of defiance.

Now, of course, we cannot escape the legal need to present a balanced budget, which in turn means we must set a CT rate that contributes to it.

The remainder of the counterweight to level the scales is the annual huge sack of yet more exceptional financial support.

So, what can be done?

There are some 30 councils currently borrowing billions, just to keep the lights on.

Soon it will be a hundred.

All of them will have some unique failing. Bad investments, property deals gone sour etc.

However, all of them will have also been subsidising central Government programmes for decades. Duties forced upon us by Westminster but never fully funded by the Treasury. I say we get that money back. Calculate the total underfunding over time, add in interest and deduct the aggregate from more recent borrowings.

Now, if little old RBWM did that alone, councillors would be at personal financial and criminal risk.

However, if most of those one hundred or so councils can be brought together and all refuse to continue this dance of death, what would happen?

This Government has a habit of backing down when confronted.

What’s needed to bring it about are leadership, nerve and confidence.

All qualities which are utterly absent in the current administration but not in Alison and Jack. I have rallied to their call. Who else is in?

JOHN BALDWIN

Member of the Borough first Independents

Performative outrage but Tories lack ideas

I have written many times before asking Conservatives how they would better manage RBWM finances and I ask the same question once again.

Successive Conservative governments and now Labour have failed to address underlying issues at the heart of local government financing, notably the relentless increases in the cost of statutory adults’ and children’s services.

Nationally, only the Lib Dems have identified credible solutions to these, such as our plan on social care and scrutinising the exorbitant cost of SEND providers.

While we continue to lobby the government over our unfair funding, we must ultimately play the hand we’re dealt.

Under the Lib Dem led administration, RBWM remains the lowest council tax in Berkshire, one of the lowest in the country, with low cost, high quality services.

Independent experts in the FISP and auditors have praised our improved approach and financial control.

Scrutiny has improved under this administration, and, for this budget, there have been plenty of opportunities – including via cabinet in December, the public consultation running until January then corporate overview and scrutiny in January. At this meeting, which I chaired, Lib Dem and independent councillors challenged both officers and the lead member.

The Conservatives did nothing. Contributed nothing.

The final opportunity for challenge was the budget meeting, where an independent-submitted amendment was accepted.

The Conservatives submitted no amendments.

Having failed to take any of the many opportunities available to challenge the budget or suggest alternatives, the Conservatives and certain independents then complained that they were being ‘denied’ a referendum.

Cllr Wisdom DaCosta tried to introduce an amendment at the meeting itself – he ought to know by now that this is not possible at budget, as any costings needs to be checked by officers first, then had the audacity to ask the deputy mayor to override the constitution just for him.

As for the change.org petition raised by Andrew Hill, it would have taken officers several days to unpick which email addresses represented actual RBWM residents – of just two comments on the petition, one was from Slough, the other from Ledbury.

Whether by ignorance or design, a late referendum would have led to the failure to set a budget in time and almost certainly to bankruptcy, handling over the council to Government officials.

The Conservatives and their fellow travellers have been confused and confusing – saying they oppose council tax rises, while telling us what more we should spend our money on and, at the same time, that we should reduce our debt quicker.

Their performative outrage is because they have nothing useful to contribute.

Cllr JULIAN TISI

Lib Dem, Eton & Castle

Glad Travelodge plans were well scrutinised

Several months ago I wrote to the RBWM planners and the Maidenhead Advertiser explaining why I had asked for the Travelodge planning application on King Street to be called in before the planning committee.

At the time I was concerned that the original proposal would remove the green wall and effectively make the large billboard on top of the building a permanent feature while simply replacing unsafe cladding.

In my view that did not sit right with the spirit of our planning policies.

I am pleased the application was properly scrutinised.

Following discussion with officers and the applicant, a better scheme has now come forward.

The unsafe cladding will be removed, the unsightly advertising board that has sat on the building for around a decade will also be removed rather than becoming a permanent feature, and importantly the approval now secures a proper green wall with a maintenance plan and legal commitment to maintain.

This is a positive outcome for Maidenhead and, as far as I am aware, the first true green wall secured through planning in the Royal Borough.

For years we have been told these features are too difficult or too expensive, but this shows that with the right approach they can be delivered even in a constrained town centre location.

My hope is that this application (which was approved last week) can now act as a template for future developments where appropriate, helping bring more greenery, biodiversity and better design into our town centres.

Cllr GURCH SINGH

Lib Dem, St Mary’s

Plan for minimum levels of affordable housing

Letters to the Advertiser in the past few weeks from members of the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Forum have urged residents to vote for the Neighbourhood Plan on March 19.

I should like to add my plea as a contributor with Martin McNamee to the housing section of the Plan.

At the initial consultation with residents housing was identified as a priority issue.

We commissioned planning consultants to provide up-to-date housing statistics from the Census and the Borough and reviewed the research literature.

This work showed that most residents are well housed in attractive locations but this has led to high house and rent prices which a worrying and growing minority of households cannot afford.

There are currently over 500 households on the borough’s waiting list for social housing and getting on for a 1,000 households living in overcrowded conditions.

Most lettings are of small properties unsuitable for larger families who can wait years to be rehoused.

This has contributed to a large rise in temporary accommodation and homelessness in the borough.

A key policy of the plan is to propose minimum levels of affordable housing in new housing developments.

The plan is also proposing an increase in the provision of three and four bedroom properties in both the rented and owner occupied sectors.

In the last few years there has been a big increase in the provision of small flats many of which are lived in by families with children. And when childless occupants want to start families they will be looking for larger family homes without having to leave the town.

These are just two of the examples of proposals in the Plan designed to make Maidenhead a pleasant place to live for all its residents.

So please vote for it on March 19!

JUDITH LITTLEWOOD

Maidenhead Neighbourhood Forum

Complexities behind plan preparations

Receiving polling cards has certainly drawn attention to the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Plan, which is welcome.

We realise that many people are seeing it for the first time, so it may help to explain how it came to be.

Anything to do with town planning soon becomes very technical but we, the group of volunteers writing it (amateur planners, having to turn semi-professional) really did start by asking Maidonians what they wanted at a public meeting back in 2023.

And then for more detail later, such as which heritage buildings to protect.

Wanting something doesn’t always mean getting it, and we are only allowed to write policies compatible with national policy and with the RBWM Borough Local Plan.

Not all the ideas on the wish-list got through – for example we wanted to specify 20 per cent three plus bed houses in the town centre, but were told this would threaten housing supply by making it unviable.

This kind of argument carries big weight with the pre-referendum examiner, so we had to settle for 80 per cent three plus bed properties outside the town centre.

We don’t have as much freedom as we like, but we’ve genuinely tried to put in the plan as many policies as we could that people requested.

And, we have jumped through the many hoops to ensure they are consistent – if documents contradict, the poor planning officer’s job becomes impossible and their decisions would be challenged at appeal (= more cost to us).

So inevitably there are things people would like to see in the plan that aren’t there. To see what did make it into the plan, go to mnf.org.uk.

Perfect plan that appeals to all? We wish!

But from where we are now, Maidenhead can either vote Yes to the plan – warts and all – or No, in which case all its policies are destined for the bin.

We don’t want to see the baby thrown out with the bathwater, so we’d very much like you to vote Yes on March 19.

IAN ROSE

Editor and co-chair

Maidenhead Neighbourhood Forum

International Women’s Day – a short poem

Women rise like constellations.

In every woman, a quiet sunrise

unfurls its gold across the ordinary,

turning small moments into lanterns.

She walks through storms with pockets of light,

gathering broken hours and stitching them whole.

Her voice – a soft rebellion, her kindness –

a map for the lost.

Today, the world glows brighter

because they choose – again –

to turn their scars into lanterns

and their hope into a map.

DOLLY BHASKARAN

Living in Harmony