2025 Tunbridge Wells water crisis

Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin, a Liberal Democrat, called for Hinton's resignation and subsequently wrote to NatWest Group Pension Fund, which held a significant stake in South East Water's parent company, requesting a meeting and raising concerns about corporate governance. On January 19th, the EFRA Committee considered summoning NatWest representatives to explain why they were not intervening in what Martin characterized as a "failure of corporate governance". A community group, Dry Wells Action, formed in response to the crisis and called for military assistance in managing the logistics of water restoration. The Consumer Council for Water backed Ofwat's investigation, noting that "It will appear to many customers in Kent and Sussex that South East Water has lost its ability to provide a reliable water supply". == Government Response and Sector Reform ==

On January 20th, 2026, the government announced plans requiring water companies to carry out infrastructure "MOTs" to prevent major failures. The government also indicated its intention to dissolve Ofwat and establish a new oversight body, with reforms announced shortly after Hinton's refusal to resign. The Pembury failure came amid wider concerns over infrastructure in the region. Notably, The Guardian reported that in 2024 the Pembury plant had been placed under a risk notice by the regulator due to contamination hazards. That report also noted SEW's poor financial health – it needed a large cash injection in 2025 – and warned that negligence in maintenance could lead to legal action. Similar "single points of failure" are known at other UK water works, but critics highlighted that SEW's outages appeared especially chronic. In 2022 Tunbridge Wells had already suffered a six-day outage over Christmas with similar causes, and residents complained that SEW had promised lessons would be learned. == References ==