Ulcombe residents call on South East Water boss to visit area
They say it would be a first step to restoring trust
Last week Ulcombe faced two days of no water access throughout the village, with additional issues suffered by those who have houses at the top of the area's hill, where water tanks frequently have to be manually put into the system in order for residents to shower.
Speaking to us about the situation, villager and founder of Ulcombe Water Watch, Patrick McGinley said he wanted to see changes from the top:
"What I'd like to see is I'd like to see this new chairman (and this could happen in other places in Kent) come to our village hall.
"Sit in a meeting with our parish council, our MP and the villagers, and listen to the stories of the villagers. Listen to the questions. Answer them if you can.
"It's going to be a very uncomfortable meeting because there's going to be a lot of anger and a lot of people will be vexed.
"But I think if that new chief exec has enough guts to come and talk to people and tell people these are the changes he's going to make and how he will help Ulcombe Village with this problem, then we might start believing.
"Because at the moment there is zero trust in South East Water.
"So yeah, I think customers need to have a face-to-face with the chief exec, he needs to get in his car, get into the villages and start talking to people to start building confidence.
"Then start showing villagers change."
A spokesperson from South East Water told us:
“In Ulcombe, we are undertaking extensive investigation into the local network in order to identify the best ways for us to be able to support the system going forward.
“These investigations will inform any decisions about how best to improve the network and water supply in the Ulcombe area.
“We will be engaging with the local community in Ulcombe at a Parish Council meeting in the near future. This will give us a chance to listen to local residents' concerns and to reassure them of the steps that we are taking to resolve recent supply issues. There is no set date yet, but this will be confirmed soon.
“We are very sorry and know how disruptive and frustrating losing water is, particularly during warm weather, and we apologise unreservedly for the impact these issues have had on the communities in Kent.”