I have written to Emma Hardy MP, who was Water Minister when I wrote and has since been appointed Minister of State at Defra, asking for urgent answers on how and when the Government will implement the Cunliffe Review. Ministers have announced a Clean Water Bill, a single regulator, a statutory Water Ombudsman, and an end to operator self-monitoring. What they have not provided is a firm timetable.
This matters directly to us here in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. At my public meeting with Southern Water Chief Executive Lawrence Gosden at St Mary’s Centre in Felpham on 9 April, residents spoke powerfully about sewage discharges, bathing water quality, rising bills, and the loss of trust in the company. Southern Water has agreed to return for a second meeting later this year. I expect clear evidence of progress when it does.
Sir Jon Cunliffe’s Independent Water Commission published 88 recommendations a year ago. The Government has had ample time to respond, establish its priorities, and begin the work. Yet my recent parliamentary questions were answered with phrases such as “in due course” and “at the earliest opportunity”. I have asked for a full, recommendation-by-recommendation implementation schedule, with clear delivery dates.
Responsibility is currently divided between Ofwat, the Environment Agency, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, and the Consumer Council for Water. Creating one integrated regulator is the right direction. The transition cannot become a period in which accountability is blurred, decisions are delayed, or residents are left unsure who is responsible.
The same applies to monitoring and enforcement. Water companies should not continue marking their own homework on pollution. Independent monitoring data must be accurate, timely, and accessible to the public. Customers also need an Ombudsman able to secure binding redress, alongside clear rules for early intervention when companies fail and for special administration when failure becomes too serious to ignore.
This goes beyond party politics. I will hold Labour to account because it is the Government responsible for delivery. The real test is practical: cleaner beaches, fewer sewage discharges, fair treatment for customers, and confidence that bills are paying for necessary improvements. A White Paper or a new organisation chart means very little unless residents can see results.
Nationalisation is also not the answer. There are still millions waiting for NHS treatment, small-boat arrivals have risen year on year, and Labour’s answer to prison overcrowding has included releasing offenders early. Do we really want to trust the same Government to run our water too? Changing ownership would transfer responsibility and financial risk to the state without repairing a single pipe or removing the operational challenge. The Cunliffe recommendations that apply to England should instead be implemented in full and without delay, backed by tougher oversight and real consequences for failure.
I will continue pressing Defra for a substantive response and will publish it when it arrives. Ahead of Southern Water’s return to face residents, I will also expect the company to demonstrate what has improved locally. This is about delivery: cleaner seas, a reliable service, and a system that answers to the people who pay for it.
You can read my letter to Minister Hardy below, and written further on this in my weekly column for Sussex World.
