Darlington Green Party has called for a halt to all dividend payments to Northumbrian Water shareholders and those of Britain’s other privatised water monopolies until they stop dumping sewage into waterways and coastlines. For the first time, the party is contesting every ward at May’s Darlington Council elections and all its candidates are supporting the policy, which echoes a decision by the Green Party national conference at the weekend.
The party’s local spokesman, Cllr Matthew Snedker, said: “Our rivers and coastal waters are under constant assault from sewage and agricultural chemicals yet we have no real action from government, water companies or regulatory bodies.
“What has happened to the precious wildlife that once graced the North East's rivers must serve as a warnings.
"Not one waterway, river, lake, estuary or coast in the North east is in good ecological and chemical health at present, with pollution from water treatment plants and agriculture the key sources of the damage.
“Water companies can dump oceans of sewage apparently with no consequences. The Conservative government is accused of failing to comply with their duties in relation to regulations, including the monitoring and enforcement, of water companies’ own duties to manage sewage. [1]
"The Conservatives complacency when it comes to our health and the state of our waterways is clear. Targets to clean up the majority of England’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters from a cocktail of agricultural and sewage pollution have been pushed back from 2027 to 2063. [2]
This cannot go on. We are calling for Northumbrian Water - and all our water companies - to halt all dividend payouts to shareholders until these deliberate spillages end.
“The profits and dividends these companies make do not trickle down to customers in Britain. They largely go overseas. The Guardian found last November that around 70 percent of our water industry is in foreign ownership. [3]
“Northumbrian Water is ultimately owned by CK Hutchison Ltd, a Hong Kong conglomerate registered in the Cayman Islands. Its shareholders received £999 million between 2013 and 2017 alone.”
Northumbrian Water’s accounts for the year ending March 2022, showed that revenue increased by nearly 3 percent to £780.1m. The company paid an interim dividend of £58.2m and a final dividend of £55.4m.
Green councillor Bryony Holroyd said: “Governments justified privatisation of public services with the mantra that private companies can run them so efficiently they can maintain and improve quality, while having enough left over to make a profit. This has been shown over and over to not be true.
“In the case of the water companies, they should use their operating income to clean up their act - stop polluting our rivers, and fix all the leaks – only then, if money is left over, should dividends be paid.
“Northumbrian Water should meet an adequate standard of operating while charging customers fairly – until then, all payouts to shareholders should stop.”
Water regulator Ofwat says on its website: “In setting price controls our aim is to allow for a return on capital that is no more than necessary for an efficiently-run company to get the funding needed from capital markets.”