Charity in legal action against minister for failing to act over Thames Water | Water industry

A river charitable organization brought legal action against the Environment Secretary, Steve Reed, accusing him of illegal failure to publish his policy on the implementation of failing water companies in temporary nationalization.

River Action lawyers argue that Thames Water has violated his functions and violated his license conditions seriously and on several occasions, which makes it as clear as possible for special administration.

Special administration is a process of insolvency and temporary restructuring for companies that provide essential public services such as water, energy and transport. It is designed to ensure the continuity of the service while the company is stabilized and restructured.

There is a custom -made special administration regime (SAR) for the water industry, which was created in 1991 and is designed to prioritize customers and services while putting financial interests in second position.

Reed said the government intensifies preparations to take the Thames water to the special administration, indicating that it will reject the pleas of the creditors of the leniency of fines and penalties.

The biggest creditors of Thames Water control the public service and made efforts to reduce some of its debts and proposed to provide 5.3 billion pounds of new funding to try to overthrow it.

But the chief of the River Action, Emma Dearnaley, said that the time to use the SAR process was now. “Enough, that’s enough,” she said. “Why did the Secretary of State not use a special administration to repair the water sector, starting with the Thames water?

“The government has power but will not use it, or even explain when it could trigger this process. Apparently, the government has no policy. It is a fundamental failure of transparency and responsibility, and it is illegal. ”

River Action made a request for judicial review against the Secretary of State.

The complaint argues that the government has not published its policy on the moment it uses the SAR process, viocating the tasks of basic public law and that ministers have not at all developed a policy, viocating obligations under regulations on habitats and other planning and environmental laws.

Under article 24 of the 1991 law on the water industry, the special administration can be triggered by the failure of a water company to comply with performance standards, including environmental pollution, and a violation of its statutory or license tasks in a “serious sufficiently to make it inappropriate so that the company continues to hold its license”.

River Action maintains that Thames Water clearly reaches this threshold and has done it for years. Serious pollution incidents through the Thames and other water companies increased by 60% last year compared to the previous year, data revealed.

There were 75 serious pollution incidents in 2024, compared to 47 in 2023, according to figures from the Environment of the Environment. Three companies were responsible for 61, 81%, incidents :: water water with 33, Southern Water, 15, and Yorkshire Water, 13. The serious incidents of Thames Water have more than doubled.

A government spokesman said: “We are unable to comment on a continuous legal challenge.”

The Water Thames has been approached to comment.