Has Banbury MP been 'duped' over troubled Thames Water's 'failed' promises for sewage?

Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP) points out that Sean Woodcock, new Labour MP for Banbury, was invited to the Banbury Sewage Treatment Works to be photographed in early April as Thames Water (TW) promised to spend £14.7m increasing sewage processing capacity by 84 per cent by 2029.

However, Banbury’s previous MP Victoria Prentis was taken to the same sewage treatment works for a Thames Water photocall in February 2023 with the same promise – that £10m investment would increase capacity by 84 per centby April 2025. TW was paid for this work in its 2019 settlement.

Banbury Guardian approached TW last week for comment on claims of duplicity. It has not replied.

Just last month, the privatised water company – which has £20bn of debt – was fined £122.7m by Ofwat for breaching rules over sewage spills and shareholder payouts.

Last week, TW’s prospective financial saviour, the American hedge-funding company KKR, backed out of a £4bn rescue deal. And the Government created emergency legislation to ban Thames Water from paying its directors bonuses.

Vaughan Lewis of WASP said: “TW was given that money for Banbury in 2019. The MPs need to tell us where that money has gone. Why should the public pay twice for work that was promised but not done?

"They’re taking people’s money and it’s going abroad to service debts and pay dividends. It seems only a matter of time before Thames Water goes into administration or has to be renationalised.”

Householders in the Banbury area were furious seeing Thames Water given a £3bn bailout earlier this year while they saw their bills increase by up to a third.

Mr Woodcock said: “Banbury residents are rightly angry at their bills going up. Fourteen years of Conservative government left record levels of illegal sewage dumping while £41 million in bonuses were awarded to water executives under the previous government’s watch.

“With only three prosecutions and no meaningful penalties, the Conservatives prioritised protecting polluters over protecting the environment.

“We're clearing up the mess already with records fine for Thames Water and 31 independent investigations since Labour came into office. Polluters bonuses banned, increased fines and criminal prosecutions are now law because of our Water Bill.

“The previous, inadequate system of regulation is finished. Thames Water need to start delivering for their customers and putting money into the infrastructure needed to deliver services for residents. No excuses."

Mr Woodcock did not comment on TW’s apparent duplicity over the Banbury Sewage Treatment Works publicity stunts.

Mr Lewis said: “TW was paid between 2019 and 2025 to upgrade Banbury sewage works. They have now said they ‘might’ do it by 2029.

"They want another £1.18 billion to upgrade 122 sewage works – including Banbury - which they were paid for but haven’t done. They want us to pay again. Why should we pay twice? They took £140m in dividends out which is one of the things Ofwat fined them for. Did that include the money meant for Banbury?”

Mr Lewis said Ofwat sets the amount Thames Water can charge to ensure a good system. The rest of the money should come from investment.

"That's the whole point of privatisation. But Thames Water has never, ever in all of the years of privatisation, had any inward investment into it. It's always been outwards; it's taken huge, multi-billion pound dividends and we're now in a situation where it's £20bn in debt,” Mr Lewis said.

"So this Banbury problem is just an example of what happens. They commit to do something. They don't do it. In the meantime, they take the money out in dividends and debt repayments and tell the customer they are going to have to pay for it.”

Mr Lewis said Thames Water has been asset stripped and householders are having to pay for it. He said the Environment Agency has let TW slip with regard to desperately needed improvements and upgrading.

"As in a lot of things in Britain, everything's creaking and falling apart. Thames Water should be taken into special administration by the government, which would be a period of temporary government ownership. Then the government, through the High Court, can get all of the debts written off and they can restart again with a not-for-profit organisation. But the government will not do that."

Mr Lewis said there are very few ‘clean water’ sites in the area. Banbury has had over 18,500 hours of ‘storm spills’ which means raw sewage being pumped into streams and rivers.

The Shutford works had 190 spills totalling 2,977 hours. Hanwell Brook had 152 spills totalling 2,719 hours. Banbury sewage works had 126 spills totalling 1,725 hours. Wardington sewage pumping station had 124 spills totalling 1,708 hours and Horley Sor Brook had 120 spills totalling 1,382 hours’ sewage pumped out.

In May, Thames Water said: “Over the next five years we will deliver a record amount of investment to address our ageing infrastructure. We continue to execute our plans to upgrade over 250 of our sites across the region, including at our sites in Witney, Oxford and Banbury as we recognise that we need to make investment to meet the demands that come with population growth and climate change.

“Underlying operating costs have increased by around £40 million year-on-year, which has contributed to the increased amounts of planning and delivering these much-needed upgrades. Extra funding is essential in order to address customers’ concerns today and ensure the system is fit for the challenges of the future.”