The bosses of South East Water have resigned following a damning report into major supply issues that left tens of thousands of homes, including households across Ashdown Forest, in Crowborough and Jarvis Brook, without drinking water.
Independent non-executive chair Chris Train, stepped down after the report described the firm’s leadership as an “unaccountable clique”. Despite initially refusing to quit, the company’s Chief Executive, David Hinton, finally resigned a week later.
Mr Hinton, who earned £460,000 last year has previously blamed climate change and other external factors for the company’s failings.
But the report from the House of Commons Environment Committee said it had “no confidence” in the chief executive and board of the company criticising a “clear pattern of blaming factors outside of their control”.
More than 300,000 customers had been hit by several water outages since 2020, including a two-week stoppage before Christmas last year that forced 30,000 households to turn to bottled water for all their needs, the MPs said.
The company had also ignored calls from sector regulators over the past four years to invest in and maintain infrastructure, they added. The committee said executives should have “factored these into their long-term plans” and that they had “failed to sufficiently plan for critical periods”.
And the MPs added that chief executive David Hinton and the company’s board had failed to address “multiple and ongoing failures”. In their highly critical report MPs accused SEW of poor leadership, weak governance and a culture where nobody was held accountable.
South East Water (SEW) said new leadership was needed to “oversee a critical period of positive, transformative change for the company”.
Lisa Clement, interim SEW independent non-executive chair, said: “The company’s focus remains on delivering engineering and operational changes that will strengthen the resilience of SEW’s network and transform the company for the benefit of customers and local communities.”
Mr Train joined SEW in 2022, announcing at the time he and the company were planning to “further improve customer satisfaction levels”. He has more than 38 years’ experience in the energy, utilities, regulation and infrastructure sectors, according to the government.
SEW said David Hinton had decided to step down but would remain in post “to allow an orderly transition over the summer period”.
“He feels his position has become an increasing distraction from South East Water’s most important priority, which is to deliver a resilient water supply for its customers,” the company said.
Responding to the MPs’ report, SEW said it plans to double investment into the water supply network serving Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, and Berkshire over the next five years.
“The board and executive team reiterate their unreserved apology to those customers impacted by recent operational failures, and the resulting loss of public trust in the company and its services,” it added.
Bills for SEW customers increased by 7% from April, bringing the average yearly bill to £324 for 2026/27 – up from £303 the year before.