United Utilities profits soar while water bills rocket to make up for underinvestment

Bills are rising to pay for investment into the North West's water network - but profits are only going in one direction

Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.

We’ve covered sewage pouring into the sea and the harm it is causing Blackpool - and the perception of Blackpool - on these pages extensively. United Utilities told us the same thing: record investment is coming, and bill increases are necessary to pay for it.

But their results, unpicked for today’s edition, show that profits have soared in line with water bills while that investment is happening. Which begs the question: did bills really need to increase so dramatically to fund those long overdue upgrades?

Blackpool briefing

🚮 Pupils at a Blackpool pre-school got fed up of the rubbish that kept blowing off the street and into their playground. The problem seemed to be made worse by the fact that there was no bin directly outside Devonshire Road Primary Academy Pre-School. So, with help from preschool manager Giuliana Hornby, they staged a placard-waving protest outside the premises. Outside the school, on Devonshire Road, the youngsters, aged between 3 and 5 years old, marched with their banners, chanting “We want a bin, we want a bin!” And their campaign has not been for nothing. After hearing about the protest. the two councillors from Brunswick ward Cllrs Laura Marshall and Matthew Thomas, pledged to provide a bin.

🏠 An application seeking lawful approval to use a Blackpool property as an HMO for up to four people has been refused. Blackpool Council planners rejected the proposals for a Certificate of Lawfulness in respect of operating a house of multiple occupation (HMO) at 62 Regent Road. The statement, by architectural consultants Abbot Hull Associates, argued that the property was converted from a dwelling house to an HMO before Blackpool Council change is rules, meaning the current use was lawful. The planning officer rejected those arguments.

⚠️ A controversial landfill site has been given 60 days to stop the stink. Jameson Road waste site in Fleetwood has been subject to a campaign for the past 18 months over the smell it has been sending across the town. Wyre Council has this week confirmed an abatement notice has been served ordering Transwaste to sort out the smell which has triggered thousands of complaints - and plenty of criticism of the authority itself. Dr Barbara Kneale is one of those who has been heavily involved in the campaign. She told The Blackpool Lead: “We have been challenging Wyre Borough Council to issue a statutory nuisance for odour following confirmed smells by the council. We’re very pleased this is happening and means that the activities of Transwaste will be curtailed for the time being and we look forward to further information. Over the last few months you might have noticed we’ve been pressurising them [Wyre Council] about conflict of interest and as a result they’ve had to take legal advice about this they’ve been refusing to share the legal advice so I would imagine that now as they’ve done some further monitoring on Harbour Village and confirmed two smells by their environmental health officers they have no choice but to go for an abatement notice.”

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United Utilities profits soar while water bills rocket to make up for underinvestment

A sewage pipe on a beach in Blackpool. Credit: Alamy

By Michael Holmes

It “beggars belief” that water bills are rocketing when United Utilities is making so much money, water campaigners have said.

River Action’s CEO James Wallace hit out after financial results showed the water firm, which supplies seven million people across much of the North West, including on the Fylde coast, enjoyed a more than doubling of pre-tax profits to £779m over the past year.

That is after it hiked bills by 9 per cent last month, adding about £57 to people’s annual bills, under five-year plans agreed with Ofwat that will reportedly see bills rise by a total of 32 per cent.

Wallace said: “It beggars belief that bills are rising to make up for decades of underinvestment since privatisation, while private profits have soared.

“Nothing will change until the privatised water industry is fundamentally restructured for public benefit.

“Anything less risks continuing the normalisation of environmental harm on an industrial scale.”

The Blackpool Lead asked United Utilities a number of questions, including about its plans to raise £800m to help pay for upgrades to its infrastructure and how they would stop sewage spills into the Irish Sea, given people continue to be warned against bathing in the water off Blackpool.

A spokesperson initially responded wrongly: “There is no warning against swimming on the Fylde coast.”

They later retracted the statement and said some £2.1bn will be spent between now and March 2030 to “reduce the activation of storm overflows”.