THE leader of Wokingham Borough Council is calling for a ban on bonuses to executives at water companies.
The comments were made after Thames Water revealed plans to introduce hosepipe bans on residents in Wokingham from Wednesday, August 24.
The council heard the water company’s bosses were awarded £2,368,000 in bonuses in 2021.
Cllr Clive Jones feels the money should be used to fix leaking pipes rather than lining executives’ pockets.
Cllr Jones, who is also the Liberal Democrats prospective parliamentary candidate for Wokingham said: “It is outrageous that whilst thousands of people in Wokingham suffer from hosepipe bans, water company bosses reward themselves with these bonuses despite not even bothering to fix leaks.
“The worst part is, ministers are just letting water firms get away with scandal after scandal and residents in our area are sick of it.”
According to an Ofwat report, Thames Water lost 635.6 million litres of water a day last year which is below its daily target of 644.3 million litres.
A spokesperson for Thames Water said the company is doing “everything it can” to fix the leaks.
Cathryn Ross, strategy and regulatory affairs director at Thames Water told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “We totally accept we need to do better on fixing leaks, that’s why we’re fixing more than 1,100 leaks every week.
“We are not where we need to be, we have a lot of work to do to fix Thames Water.”
