Harrogate MP calls for stronger action after Yorkshire Water is ordered to pay £40m for sewage spills
Harrogate's Lib Dem MP is urging the Government to take decisive action after Yorkshire Water was ordered by Ofwat to pay £40 million towards wastewater and sewage spillages.
Tom Gordon, who has long called for bonuses and dividend handouts to be banned at Yorkshire Water until it tackled its environmental failures, said Ofwat’s intervention was welcome.
But, he said, the problems could never be solved by piecemeal action when the water industry was “fundamentally broken”.
“How can the public have any confidence in the water industry’s ability to deliver what they are paying for, when all we see is failure after failure,” asked the Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.
"Constant fines and criticism cannot go on and on.
"Whether the water industry is too far down a hole to sort itself out, or just isn’t interested in cleaning up its act, it's abundantly clear it is fundamentally broken.
“We need immediate action from the Government to sort out the water industry once and for all.
"I will continue to fight to make sure that customers get what they are paying for, including banning the absurd bonuses and dividend handouts at their expense."
Ofwat's investigation, which began in 2021, found Yorkshire Water had failed to adequately invest in and maintain its networks.
In 2023, the water watchdog found, the firm discharged untreated wastewater into the region's rivers for seven hours a day on average.
Having identified “serious failures” in how the water company operates, Ofwat has now ordered Yorkshire Water to pay £36.6m during 2025-30 to prioritise work on some of the most problematic storm overflows in environmentally sensitive areas to ensure they spill less than 20 times a year.
Yorkshire Water, which is owned by a consortium, has apologised for its failings but chief executive Nicola Shaw admitted there was "still more for us to do".
“Since 2021, we’ve been actively taking steps to improve our performance,” she said.
“But we know there’s still more for us to do.
“We apologise for our past mistakes and hope this redress package goes some way to show our commitment to improving the environment.”