Water campaigner Feargal Sharkey spoke in Ilkley on Sunday, to a group of around 150 people about the shocking state of the River Wharfe. He was there to support the Ilkley Clean River Group’s campaign to both stop raw sewage from being discharged into the river and stop local residents from paying twice while Yorkshire Water continues to increase profits.
Sharkey explored and explained how Yorkshire Water is using inter-company loans as part of its financial practices, such as lending £941mn to its holding company, rather than using this to solve problems with the sewage system. He derided its recent timely announcement of a £1.4mn package as paltry compared to its internal money exchanges and asked the simple question of “Where did the money go?” – notably that which customers have already paid in bills once.
Sharkey praised the efforts of the campaign group for their commitment, passion and drive. He highlighted that campaign groups like Ilkley Clean River Group have pushed the wanton destruction of our rivers to the top of the political agenda.
‘Our rivers are in a desperate state of affairs’
The most recent Rivers Trust report declared:
“The data is clear: our rivers are in a desperate state of affairs: No single stretch of river in England or Northern Ireland is in good overall health. Just 15% of English, 31% of Northern Irish and 50% of Irish river stretches reach good ecological health standards.”
According to figures from the campaign awareness group Top of the Poops,
the River Wharfe in Yorkshire was polluted by sewage 1,687 times in 2022, lasting 10,798 hours.
The group also claims that Yorkshire Water was responsible for 54,158 sewage overflows in 2022 in total, which equates to 148.4 times a day on average. Or a spillage time of 231,873 hours (or 26.84 years) – in 1,757 different locations across its service area. The volumetric data for these discharges in 2022 has not been publicly quantified yet.
More recent figures for sewage discharges in 2023 will be released in the next month, and are expected to further highlight the continuing problem of water companies profiting, while customers endure a sewage system that is polluting rivers and waterways.
Increases to customers’ bills
Becky Malby, from the Ilkley Clean River Group, told Yorkshire Bylines that residents were frustrated that another increase in pricing from Yorkshire Water, so quickly after the recent 6% rise this year, seemed bizarre while pollution occurred at high levels.
She continued that the group would find the soapbox campaign action to be effective, “… if Ofwat rules that the plans from Yorkshire Water to upgrade the sewage system are actually basic infrastructure and the company has to pay rather than the bill payer having to pay again”.
In a letter quoted by the Ilkley Clean River Group, Yorkshire Water laid out in its business plan that the cost to the customer would rise significantly:
“If approved, our plan would see average customer bills rise from an average of £442 over the period 2020-25, to £518.76 in 2025/26 (£43.23 per month) with increases each year thereafter taking the average bill in 2030 to £585.”
These price review (PR) plans have come under close scrutiny, as they would set price controls for water and sewerage companies for 2025–2030.
Ilkley Clean River Group posted on social media:
“The customer always pays and the company and shareholders and ‘investors’ always profit. Our Ilkley MP and Water Minister must ensure that Ilkley residents are not paying twice for basic infrastructure to treat our sewage and to save our river from the pollution that is making our river unfit for wildlife and people.”
Response from Yorkshire Water
Yorkshire Water recently announced of £1.4mn investment to further reduce storm overflows into the River Wharfe, stating that these “projects … are part of a £180mn investment project across Yorkshire by the end of April 2025”.
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said:
“We have an extensive investment programme across the whole of Yorkshire, with more than £500mn invested into our infrastructure this past year and another £800mn being invested in the next financial year, and we finance this through reinvesting profits, funds from shareholders and through borrowing.
“Our business plan for 2020 – 2025 outlined all the investment we’d be making during this time and that’s what customers’ bills are currently paying for. When creating business plans, we balance the investment we need to make to meet new regulatory or legislative targets, alongside making sure bills stay affordable for our customers. We believe our new plan for 2025 – 2030, that is currently with Ofwat for approval, does this.
“We know circumstances are tough for many people at the moment and as part of our plans we have outlined enhancements to the support we already offer customers who may be struggling financially. We are committed to increasing our contributions to help those most in need. All low-income households will be able to access financial support from Yorkshire Water and we are committed to increasing support for customers by 25%.”
Exceptional circumstances do not include rainfall
The Ilkley Clean River Group challenge the contention that heavy rainfall can be classified as ‘exceptional circumstances’. They rely on the Office for Environmental Protection consideration from 2023 that:
“… it considers that the combined failure, over years, of the Secretary of State, the Environment Agency and OFWAT to stop sewage pollution, did not, and still does not comply with the law. We believe that there may have been failures to comply with environmental law by all three of the public authorities.”
The conservation charity Wildfish published a comment from its legal team stating:
“OFWAT, the Environment Agency and the Secretary of State are jointly responsible for the terrible sewage pollution of our rivers. They have allowed the water companies to pollute routinely, unlawfully, as a normal part of their usual business practice. Let’s be quite clear here. Those three public bodies are complicit in allowing the pollution. That must now end.”
Sharkey concluded his talk this morning by urging more momentum and pressure from campaign groups such as Ilkley Clean Water Group, who appeared to be on the cusp on winning the battle, to make sure that “Yorkshire Water will never, never, never repeat the sins of the past”.
