Tunbridge Wells MP calls for South East Water CEO to resign over water outage
Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin has called for the resignation of South East Water’s CEO, David Hinton, following widespread water supply failures that has left 24,000 properties without water for three days.
The Liberal Democrat issued a strongly worded statement criticising the company's handling of the situation, describing it as a "total failure of leadership" and a "disgrace."
The water supply issues, which began earlier on Saturday 29 November after a "chemical" issue at Pembury water treatment works, has caused significant disruption in the Tunbridge Wells area.
Schools, GP surgeries, and businesses were forced to close, care homes were left without water, and roads became gridlocked as residents queued for bottled water at distribution sites.
Mike Martin criticised South East Water’s communication with its customers, saying, “Every announcement by the company over the last few days telling customers when water supplies would be restored has been wrong. We’ve had endless announcements each giving a different time for water supplies returning.”
He added that initial instructions for residents to travel to another town to collect bottled water were inadequate, and that it was only after his intervention that bottled water stations were set up in central Tunbridge Wells.
Th Liberal Democrat MP explained, “This incident has caused chaos, anger and anxiety for people. Primary and secondary schools are closed. GP surgeries and civil buildings are closed."
"Businesses have been unable to trade on one of the busiest trading days of the year."
"Restaurants and hotels have lost thousands of pounds. Care homes and vulnerable people have been left without water for hours, with many contacting me personally to get bottled water delivered to them because South East Water’s phone lines were too busy.”
This is not the first time Tunbridge Wells has experienced significant water outages. Mr Martin highlighted prior assurances given by CEO David Hinton following a six-day water outage in 2022.
He said, “When I was elected last year, David Hinton gave personal and public assurances that the lessons of previous water outages in Tunbridge Wells had been learnt. We now know that is not true.”
He went on to accuse the company of failing to provide sufficient resilience in the local network, inadequate communication with the community, and a lack of an effective emergency response plan.
Calling for David Hinton to take responsibility, Martin said, “David Hinton must resign, and if he had any integrity he would do so immediately.”
South East Water have not yet responded to Martin’s statement.