Harrogate and Knaresborough’s new MP calls for Yorkshire Water boss to hand back her bonus over sewage dumping

Tom Gordon, Harrogate and Knaresborough’s new Lib Dem MP, has called for Yorkshire Water’s boss to hand back a £371,000 bonus that has been given as part of a more than £1 million pay packet. 

This comes following a decision by Ofwat, the water regulator, to allow water companies to significantly increase bills over the next few years. Yorkshire Water, for example, will be allowed to hike bills by 25% by 2030. 

All of this is despite the continued failure of Yorkshire water to get a handle over its infrastructure, and whilst it continues to dump sewage into the Nidd and many other parts of the region. Its longstanding failure to maintain and update its infrastructure has helped the sewage crisis to continue, and also created other crises, such as reduced water supply to many residents in April following a burst water pipe. 

Commenting, Tom Gordon MP said:

“That Yorkshire water continues to dump sewage, fail to upgrade its infrastructure and hike bills over the next few years is bad enough. To further reward their chief executive as these failures continue is downright insulting to my constituents. 

“That is why I am calling for Yorkshire Waters’ CEO, Nicola Shaw, to hand back her bonus. It is clearly not deserved or earned. 

“Yorkshire Water needs to get its act together and spend the money that their customers, my constituents, keep paying them on upgrading their infrastructure and stopping sewage dumping, not giving out bonuses to their CEO and paying money out to shareholders. The time has come to sort out their act and actually deliver what my constituents are paying for. 

“Their environmental vandalism and disrespectful behaviour towards their customers is outrageous and must end today. I expect Nicola Shaw to do the right thing, returning her bonus and using that money to make amends and invest in Yorkshire Water’s infrastructure, so that they don’t continue to commit environmental crimes.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

The link to the Financial Times article detailing the bonus is here: Yorkshire Water boss receives £1mn as bonus ban announced (ft.com)