A water company faced a grilling over its poor record in a part of Kent amid concerns over how the area is going to cope with an influx of 28,000 new homes.

Southern Water was pressed by Medway councillors on incidents where people were left without water - including a care home which had to ask the council for help when the company failed to, as well as “fat cat” bonuses for bosses.

Mike Russel, stakeholder engagement manager for Kent, and Paul Morgan, regional operations manager for wastewater, faced questions at a Medway Council meeting last Thursday (June 12).

Councillors raised issues which residents had brought to them, including the outages in Strood on Boxing Day which affected approximately 1000 households and low water pressure at the far end of the Hoo Peninsula.

Cllr Joanne Howcroft-Scott (Lab) challenged Southern Water over an incident in March where a care home in Cuxton was without water, but the company hadn’t alerted the council that a vulnerable group might need support.

She also said water issues came up regularly and residents were particularly angry because of chief executive bonuses despite poor service.

She said: “The care home was without water and until they rang me the council didn’t know, the MP didn’t know.

“These were vulnerable people and we had to pick up your pieces, that’s not okay.

“On the doorstep, our constituents are always complaining about water - other areas have other options of providers, but here we don’t have that luxury.

“What they see is your fat cats, whether you make a profit or not, getting loads of money and the customers who are paying don’t see any benefits to them - the bills just go up and up and up.”

Mr Russel apologised for the impact on the care home and said the processes specifically for vulnerable people needed to be improved.

He said: “A real apology for what those people in that care home suffered, that really shouldn’t happen.

We have processes in place to look after vulnerable people when there is a loss of supply but they clearly have to be better because, as you say, these people rely on us.

“We serve people on dialysis so if they lose water it’s absolutely critical we can be there. It sounds like there was a real lack of response there.

“Bonuses have been stopped now for certain companies that haven’t hit performance areas, that includes Southern Water.

“Southern Water has, in the past, paid bonuses to its directors, it’s a very thorny issue but if you want to get good people who are going to turn the business around you potentially have to reward them.

“The level to which you reward them is one for discussion.”

Committee chair David Field (Lab) said Southern Water was an £800m business, about twice the size of Medway Council, but its CEO was paid quadruple that of the authority’s chief executive - but Mr Russel said this was not something he decided.

Cllr Andrew Lawrence (Con) said it was unfair to ask questions about bonuses and salaries of directors to the regional managers - but other councillors argued, as representatives of the business, it was reasonable to expect an answer.

Mr Russel and Mr Morgan gave a presentation to the members of the regeneration, culture and environment committee about how Southern Water was investing £58.5million over the next five years in the Towns to improve the service.

These included standby generators to cope with power outages at the Stoke and Isle of Grain sites, as well as £9.9m for the Whitewall Creek site in Strood and £33m for the Motney Hill site to increase capacity.

These works, which also include new pumps and system refurbishment, are to be completed over the current five-year cycle of investment which ends in 2028.

Councillors also asked about how Southern Water was preparing for the 28,000 new homes planned up until 2041.

Cllr Lawrence asked: “We’re facing 28,000 houses being built in Medway, at the end of my ward, which is rural, there’s 3,500 houses being built. I’m really wondering how you’re going to supply them.

“How are you going to supply about 50,000 new residents over the next 20 years? Where is that water coming from?”

He also asked how Southern Water was not just catching up its equipment for current needs but also future-proofing its system.

Mr Russel said Tom Williams, regional operations manager for the water network who was due to attend but couldn’t because of a family emergency, would have better been able to answer the question but Southern Water did have a long-term plans which he would provide to the council.

He said “Our Water Resources Management Plan is staggered in five, ten, 15, 25 and 50-year stages and in this there are plans for new reservoirs and water recycling.

“It’s right to say some areas of infrastructure are old and challenging, but also some sections have been invested in too.

“It’s a bit of a patchwork quilt, some places are in need or renovation.”

Mr Morgan added some improvements had been made while repairs were done, but to upgrade one section could have the potential to overload other facilities further down, so system-wide improvements were needed to be done at the same time.

Cllr Smitha Campbell (Lab) asked about the co-ordination of works between Southern Water and Medway Council as roadworks were a common frustration of residents and there had been an instance where the authority had resurfaced the entire of Maidstone Road, Rochester, and three days later it was being dug up again by Southern Water.

Mr Russel and council officers agreed they collaborated as much as possible, and instances like that raised were generally due to emergency maintenance which needed immediate responses.

The questioning had been tabled by committee chairman Cllr Field (Lab) to ask about the current performance and planned investment into the Towns and what it is doing to address customer’s problems.

Councillors voted to note the comments from Southern Water and arrange a meeting between officers and the water company about on-going issues with flooding at the Pentagon Shopping Centre.

They also agreed further discussion about the incident at the care home in Cuxton, the Cliffe Woods pumping station and issues in Allhallows, as well as request written information about plans to cope with new homes as part of the Local Plan.