3 Parish Water Forum
(St. Martins, Weston Rhyn and Gobowen)Chair: Helen Williams Tel: 777561
Vice. Chair: Glenn Pennington Tel:778477
“The Vice-Chair of the Three Parish Water Forum writes,
The Three Parish Water Forum (3PWF) was formed by residents in St Martins dissatisfied with the service provided by, and charges paid to, the water company Dyr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW). It incorporates the concerns of dissatisfied customers in Gobowen and Weston Rhyn hence its name. The two water companies that operate in Shropshire are Severn Trent Water (STW) and DCWW. In St Martins, everyone pays their water bill to STW but not everyone pays the same amount for sewerage collection. This is because the water company boundary line divides St Martins which means that customers on one side pay sewerage charges set by DCWW while customers on the other side pay sewerage charges set by STW. The problem is that sewerage charges paid to DCWW are much higher than those paid to STW so either you or your neighbour can be paying a much higher sewerage bill even though you are co-located and you use the same sewerage pipes!
The 3PWF Committee contacted the Rt Hon Owen Patterson MP with our concerns about this discrepancy and he forwarded our letter to DCWW. In reply to Mr Paterson, the managing director of DCWW, Mr Annett wrote,
“For St Martins our joint proposal with Severn Trent Water is for the boundary to be moved to the south of the community, which would mean that all customers would become Welsh Water customers.”
The 3PWF thus discovered that DCWW and STW have been in consultation for some time about rationalisation of sewerage infrastructures along the Welsh-English border. With respect to St Martins, their joint proposal is that STW give up their half of St Martins to DCWW such that everyone in St Martins will pay sewerage charges solely to DCWW! This is not good news because DCWW are permitted by OFWAT to impose a permanent extra “standing charge” to the cost of sewerage collection which can be around 35% of the total water bill. It means that everyone in St Martins will then pay 100% higher sewerage charges! Undoubtedly DCWW will try to sugar the bitter pill in some way but why is this happening in the first place? Why cannot the English water company of STW have responsibility for water provision and sewerage collection for the English parishes of St Martins, Gobowen and Weston Rhyn?
The aim of the 3PWF is therefore to get the water company boundary pushed back to the River Ceiriog, the natural Welsh-English boundary. This would mean that the English water company Severn Trent Water, instead of the Dyr Cymru Welsh Water, would have jurisdiction over our three English parishes and we would all pay cheaper water bills. It is hoped to have a public meeting in the St Martins Community Centre in June with representatives of DCWW and STW and possibly with our MP in order to air our concerns and to question their decisions. There will be notices put up in public places informing you of the date and time of this event. The American author, Alice Walker wrote, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” Our collective voice does have a power and we do think that we can make a difference but we need your support. Please attend if you can.”
Regards
Glenn