More than 24,000 residents and businesses in Royal Tunbridge Wells have been without tap water for six days.
Provider’s response under fire
The region’s sole water supplier, South East Water, has drawn criticism after its emergency measures faltered. Local MP Mike Martin has urged the resignation of chief executive David Hinton, who has not been publicly seen since the outage began.
Initial relief efforts were hampered when a distribution centre was mistakenly opened in a neighboring town, and communications to the public were described as erratic and incomplete. The company also missed several self-set deadlines for restoring service, leaving vulnerable households without promised bottled-water deliveries.
Businesses remain closed, schools and nurseries are shut, and a hospital has postponed operations. Residents report difficulties maintaining basic hygiene without running water.
Financial backdrop and ownership
A 2023 University of Greenwich study, cited by the Financial Times, showed that between 2020 and 2022 the firm paid £156 million in dividends and £72.8 million in interest on a £1.4 billion debt, while spending only £179.8 million on infrastructure upgrades.
South East Water is owned by HDF Holdings, whose shareholders include NatWest’s pension fund, a Canadian pension fund and an Australian infrastructure investor. Private infrastructure assets are often sought by pension schemes for their long-term, low-risk, inflation-linked returns.
Listed companies are subject to regular disclosures, annual general meetings and established voting channels. By contrast, private firms disclose only what they choose, limiting the information available to investors and the public.
Although the NatWest pension fund sits within the ownership chain, the lack of transparent reporting makes it difficult for scheme members to assess whether active oversight is occurring.
Effective oversight would require trustees to track water-system risks such as leak management, infrastructure renewal and network resilience, documenting concerns and actions taken after repeated service failures.
Calls for accountability
So, while Tunbridge Wells will see its water return today, albeit with a notice that it is not safe to drink without boiling, I’m calling on the pension fund owners of HDF Holdings to fulfil their stewardship responsibilities. The NatWest pension fund and its co-investors must show that they are not passive beneficiaries of a private asset, but accountable owners willing to drive the changes needed to stop this from happening again – starting with a change in leadership at the top. Pensions Age has reached out to NatWest with several questions for its pension fund on the stewardship of South East Water, but a response has not been received.
