South East Water: Council Report Says Outages May Recur

A council inquiry into last winter’s water outages has found there is “currently no confidence” that they will not happen again. Its report went to Full Council on Wednesday 14 October.

Updated 6 November: Full Council agreed all four recommendations on 14 October, by affirmation, without a vote count. The agreed wording of the pilot is looser than the report’s: the council will “consider the feasibility of a pilot project to explore how information can be shared”, with no mention of South East Water paying. Details below.

The report is by a task and finish group of four councillors from the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee. It says more outages took place in July 2026, after the winter crisis. (Draft final report, Appendix A)

Why the council looked into it

The borough lost water supplies in December 2025 and January 2026. On 11 January the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum declared a Major Incident for Tunbridge Wells. (Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, 15 January 2026)

The Drinking Water Inspectorate later found the loss of supply and boil water notice were “foreseeable and preventable”. They affected up to 60,170 consumers in the Tunbridge Wells area. The regulator put South East Water into a “transformation programme”, one of its most serious interventions. (Drinking Water Inspectorate, 14 April 2026)

South East Water was due at the council’s scrutiny committee in January 2026. The report says it declined “at very short notice”. Full Council then voted on 25 February for an inquiry. It was asked to:

• check what South East Water promised after the 2022 outages, and whether it delivered
• assess the financial hit to the local economy
• push for better emergency plans
• set out how the council deals with the company and its regulators from now on

(Covering report to Full Council)

What South East Water told the councillors

The company answered questions at a scrutiny meeting on 15 June. The report records these points from the company:

• short-term resilience work has been done on the Tunbridge Wells and Blackhurst supply system
• extra filters were fitted on the treated water coming into the Pembury site from the Bewl treatment works
• funding is secured to expand Bewl treatment works by 7 million litres a day over the next five years
• it is doubling or tripling the number of water mains it renews in the current five-year period
• an independent review of the Pembury outage had taken place, with a summary and actions due in June 2026
• housing growth is higher than it was asked to plan for
• it is not a statutory consultee on planning applications, but is setting up a team to look at them
• its emergency plans are not public

(Draft final report, Appendix A)

What the councillors concluded

The group found a “trust gap” between residents and the company. The utility owns the pipes, the data and the communications, it says, while “the Council carries the community impact”.

It dropped one part of its brief. Working out the cost to the local economy was “too broad” to do in the time available. It also said plainly that the council cannot make South East Water do anything. That power sits with Ofwat.

On resilience, the report says more money and measures are needed. They must cover today’s homes and the new ones being planned.

The four recommendations

Full Council was asked to agree, change or reject these:

1. Invite South East Water back to report on progress during the 2027/28 committee year.
2. Hold a separate meeting with the company, which it has already suggested, on better communication with residents.
3. Consider a pilot, paid for by South East Water, for a joint “one stop shop” where residents report water problems and track what happens.
4. Send the recommendations as a letter from the scrutiny chair, backed by the council leader and chief executive.

(Draft final report, Appendix A)

The one stop shop idea is the report’s main proposal. The councillors describe a council-run place to report a burst main, a sewer flood or a power cut. The utility would still run the repair. Residents would see progress, and the council would see patterns and who is vulnerable.

What Full Council agreed

Councillor Fairweather moved the recommendations and Councillor Pound seconded them. The Mayor took the vote by affirmation, and the minutes record it as resolved:

1. that South East Water is invited to give a progress update during the 2027/28 committee cycle
2. that a separate meeting is held with South East Water on improving communication with residents
3. that the council considers the feasibility of a pilot project to explore how information can be shared to support this
4. that the recommendations go to South East Water as a letter from the chair of Overview and Scrutiny, endorsed by the Leader and Chief Executive

In the debate, councillors said it was disappointing that many business owners in the town had been refused compensation by South East Water for past outages. They also said they hoped the company would attend a meeting, as earlier arrangements had not worked. (Full Council, 14 October 2026, draft minutes, item FC40/26)

What it means for you

The report does not change anything on its own. It sets out what the council will ask of South East Water, and it admits the council’s powers are limited.

The meeting was on Wednesday 14 October, and the webcast is on the Full Council meeting page.

If your supply fails, report it to South East Water first. The council’s report itself says reporting should be easier and better signposted. The other items at the same meeting are in our Tunbridge Wells council this week round-up.