Selaine Saxby, MP for North Devon, met residents in Georgeham with South West Water and the Environment Agency to discuss water quality. Following this meeting Selaine has written to both Ofwat and the Secretary of State, Therese Coffey MP, to urge that water companies should reflect environmental performance when deciding upon dividend payments.
Ms Saxby organised the meeting for residents of Croyde and Georgeham specifically because of her concerns that the good news about Croyde’s new status as a beach rated ‘excellent’ was being lost amongst a barrage of negative media.
Selaine Saxby MP, said:
“The purpose of the meeting was not to say everything is great, it is not, but to show that despite what we may be hearing or seeing in the media or social media, that our stretch of coastline has improved significantly over the years.
This is not universally true in other areas of the country and indeed not true for all of our rivers.”
During the meeting the Environment Agency outlined their role and how they are working with South West Water, landowners and environmental groups to not only improve the land but enforce penalties when standards are breached. South West Water outlined the infrastructure that they have put into North Devon, the work they are doing now and the research alongside the University of Exeter to better monitor, manage and predict overflows or pollution events. Despite this positive outlook South West Water face 13 charges in Plymouth Crown Court this month over environmental breaches.
Selaine Saxby MP, said:
“There were several questions about South West Water’s financial performance and is was suggested that they hand out dividends of 26.83%. This is not true, a dividend of this size would make them the highest dividend payer for any publicly listed company in the UK by almost a factor of three. The actual dividend recently paid out was 26.83 pence per share, Pennon, the parent company of South West Water average a dividend yield of approximately 4.5%. This is, however, still quite a high dividend by industry standards.
That is why I welcome as part of the Environment Act, the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) consulting on taking powers to enforce against water companies that do not link dividend payments to their environmental performance. This proposal is crucial to ensure better accountability on performance, and drive the outcomes that we all expect from our water companies. I wholeheartedly support this principle, if shareholders want dividends, they need to demand that Pennon and its three water companies produce for the environment. I have written to Ofwat to support this link between dividends and environmental outcomes. I have also met with Susan Davy CEO of Pennon to highlight concerns raised at the meeting.”
Ms Saxby added:
“Of course water quality could be better, particular in our rivers, but we should be welcoming the improvements that have been made and proactively and positively advertising our cold water surfing reserve and our top quality beaches.”
What we must not do is damage North Devon’s reputation of having the best beaches in the south west, and some of the cleanest in Europe, by dwelling purely on one tiny element of an immensely complex situation with regards to water quality when we have so much to offer as a tourism destination.”
