Put South East Water back in public ownership, says council leader
The Leader of Canterbury City Council, Cllr Alan Baldock, has written to the government to demand that South East Water be put into special administration – effectively bringing it back into public ownership.
The move follows the latest disruption to the supply of fresh water across Whitstable and Herne Bay affecting residents, the vulnerable, businesses and those looking after animals.
The latest incident mirrors a similar one in July last year which also affected thousands of people as temperatures soared.
In his letter to Emma Reynolds MP, the Secretary of State for the Department of the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) and whose department is ultimately responsible for the supply of fresh water, Cllr Baldock says: “Enough is enough.
“The appalling performance of South East Water in our district and across Kent has to be tackled and tackled now.
“Yet again our residents, many of them vulnerable, businesses and livestock owners have been left without water during the hottest days of the year so far.
“And we’ve not even reached the peak summer months.
“As if that was not bad enough, South East Water’s response to the crisis has been an abject failure save for those workers on the frontline battling to fix failures that are not down to them.
“To rub salt into already open wounds, this failing water company has failed to the learn the lessons from previous crises.
“This is just one of a number of letters we’ve been forced to write in recent months – the tally is growing.
“This letter is to demand the government urgently assesses whether the continued failings of South East Water now meets the s24 performance grounds for placing the company into special administration – effectively bringing this vital service back into public ownership. We think it does.”
The letter highlights a growing body of evidence that South East Water has contravened its statutory and licence obligations in a manner sufficiently serious that it is inappropriate for the company to continue to hold its appointment.
Cllr Baldock said: “Taken together, [the evidence] points to a persistent failure of supply resilience across the area covered by South East Water, a failure of infrastructure stewardship, repeated failures in customer protection especially for the most vulnerable, a failure in emergency response and a failure in the delivery of the company’s own water resources planning assumptions.”
Cllr Baldock’s comments come weeks after scathing criticism from MPs sitting on the House of Commons Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs Select Committee who voiced their concerns that South East Water has demonstrated poor escalation processes, insufficient alternative water provision and inconsistent communications during crises.
Following a Notice of Motion at Full Council which gained cross-party support in February, officers will present plans for the creation of a South East Water Stakeholder Group comprised of all the councils who receive their fresh water from the company.
Councillors agreed the group should be able to:
- raise concerns collectively, press for essential infrastructure investment and secure consistency in emergency planning, compensation arrangements and customer communications
- define expectations for transparency, performance reporting and cooperation from South East Water
- recommend mechanisms for monitoring, scrutinising and escalating issues where service failures impact residents, businesses or community resilience
Published: 2 June 2026