Horley MP demands answers after ‘vulnerable residents’ left without assistance during major water outage
Horley’s MP has demanded answers from the area’s water company after residents reported being left without prompt assistance during a water outage last weekend.
Chris Coghlan wrote to SES Water following the major outage on Sunday, July 26 that left Gatwick Airport and much of the Horley area without running water.
While expressing his gratitude that the issue was resolved within 24 hours, he flagged reports from vulnerable residents who believed they were not given adequate support while it was ongoing.
He wrote: “I have received reports from vulnerable residents who state that they were not contacted regarding bottled water deliveries, despite SES Water’s assurances that support was being provided to those on the Priority Services Register.
“One resident told me that they spent hours on the phone on hold but was eventually cut off.
“This is concerning, given how important it is to ensure that those most at risk are properly supported during service interruptions.”
SES Water has revealed the outage was caused by a power failure at the Bough Beech Water Treatment Works, leading to some people getting low water pressure and temporary loss of supply.
Horley resident Alan Boughen told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that his family noticed the outage at around 9.30am with their taps experiencing “extremely low pressure”.
“You couldn’t do the washing up or take a shower,” he said. “But where it was more problematic was for the older residents living around us. A lot of them didn’t have access to water.”
He said that several residents “rallied around” to deliver bottled water to vulnerable members of their community who were “stuck without it”.
“These water companies are quite problematic at the moment in general, and it doesn’t feel like the infrastructure is very robust,” Mr Boughen added.
In his letter to SES Water, Mr Coghlan asked how the company identified and contacted residents in need, and whether those on the Priority Services Register were successfully reached.
He also requested to know whether the company “considers its contingency plans to have operated effectively” during the outage.
An SES Water spokesperson told the LDRS: “We want to provide the best possible service to customers when third-party power outages affect our network.
“We’re currently reviewing our response to this incident and will update the MP once our review is complete.”