Mayors Could Be Given Powers to Oversee Water Companies

Mayors in England and Wales could be given powers to oversee water companies under a plan proposed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

The idea, first reported by The Telegraph, would create nine new regional bodies responsible for planning, setting objectives, and holding water companies to account.

These regional bodies would have the power to oversee elements of water companies' spending and hold bosses to account over bills and sewage discharges.

A Whitehall source said it was just one among a number of ideas being explored to bring greater public control of water companies.

A government spokesperson said: "Our water industry has not been working for people for far too long. We're bringing in tougher regulation, stronger enforcement and greater accountability, so water companies deliver for customers and the environment. "

The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) said the year-on-year increase was the highest in its 20-year history and showed "just how dissatisfied" many people were.

In recent years there has been growing public concern about sewage spills and rising bills, as well as decades of under-investment in the sector, with climate change and population growth straining it further.

Complaints to watchdog about water firms jump 84% during his first address to the House of Commons in September, Burnham said "a series of wrong turns" since the 1980s had seen economic power in the UK privatised, before pointing to the water industry as "a leaking monument to that approach - a country run in the private rather than public interest. "

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Mayors Could Be Given Powers To Oversee Water Companies