MP hits out over water bills charge (From The Oxford Times)
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MP hits out over water bills charge
9:30am Saturday 27th October 2012 in News
OXFORD East MP Andrew Smith has hit out at plans to make Thames Water customers in Oxfordshire pay an £80 hike in their bills to pay for a “super sewer” in London.
The levy will be introduced in 2015 to fund the Thames Tideway Tunnel designed to stop millions of tonnes of Londoners’ untreated sewage flowing straight into the river’s tidal estuary.
Labour MP Mr Smith said: “It’s very unfair that, outside London, only Thames Water customers are being forced to pay for this.
“The tunnel is certainly necessary to stop raw sewage going into the Thames in London, and Thames Water are pointing to the environmental, tourism and business benefits.
“As those benefits materialise in London should pay for it. If London can’t afford to pay for it, then the cost should be spread across UK taxpayers, not just loaded onto Thames Water customers, especially those outside the capital. It is going to be a struggle for a lot of people to find £80 extra.”
Water firm spokesman Simon Evans said: “Customers outside London have seen significant improvements from investment in sewage treatment locally, while paying the lowest bills in the country for most of the past 20 years.
“It is only fair that the costs of our investment are spread evenly across our customers.”
Comments(5)
King Joke
says...
7:53pm Sat 27 Oct 12
Darkforbid
says...
1:08am Sun 28 Oct 12
Why should the taxpayer, pay anything? Or is that the way you think privatisation should work, shareholders milking the profits while the taxpayer pays for new infrastructure?
And why the pretty finance package? Macquarie Bank? So now we are lending money to the bank that owns it...
King Joke
says...
2:13pm Tue 30 Oct 12
Darkforbid wrote:So Londoners should pay for the facilities to deal with our siht? How is that fair?
“As those benefits materialise in London should pay for it. If London can’t afford to pay for it, then the cost should be spread across UK taxpayers, not just loaded onto Thames Water customers, especially those outside the capital. It is going to be a struggle for a lot of people to find £80 extra.” Why should the taxpayer, pay anything? Or is that the way you think privatisation should work, shareholders milking the profits while the taxpayer pays for new infrastructure? And why the pretty finance package? Macquarie Bank? So now we are lending money to the bank that owns it...
I reiterate, we all discharge into the Thames, so we all share the responsibility to pay for dealing with the discharge properly.
peachandbetty2
says...
11:12am Thu 15 Nov 12
Andrew:Oxford says...
10:26am Sat 27 Oct 12