Press Release: 6 November 2022

Do United Utilities have no shame? This is the question that a group of concerned locals will be asking through the use of a van display outside United Utilities’ Warrington headquarters today (6th November).

The advertising campaign will highlight the damage that United Utilities are doing to the watercourses in the north. Last year, the company was England’s most polluting water company. Just one of the company’s pipes spilled sewage into the River Ellen, near the Lake District, for nearly 7,000 hours in 2022.

The campaign has been organised by the United Utilities Consultative Panel; a group of landowners who lease or manage land owned by the water company, and have become exhausted by their never-ending policy changes. 

These changes often fundamentally affect how that land must be run, but are almost always made without any consultation or engagement with the local communities or those affected by these changes. 

The group’s goal is to address concerns raised by locals and to have an input into any decisions made by UU which may affect local communities. At the same time, it is vital that key water sources must be protected from pollution and environmental degradation.

While the company has been shamed into improving its environmental behaviours, it is once again the public who will be suffering. United Utilities warned last month that their customers’ bills will increase as the company spends more money on trying to meet the environmental targets which have rightly been imposed by Ofwat, the water services regulator.

The United Utilities Consultative Panel hopes that raising awareness of the harm that United Utilities’ behaviour is having on the watercourses of the north west, and on the wildlife, flora, and people who live in the surrounding areas. 

ENDS

 For more information on the United Utilities Consultative Panel, please visit www.uuconsultativepanel.co.uk or email agilruth@uuconsultativepanel.co.uk.