“The people of Tunbridge Wells have suffered enough”
The recent water outage has caused significant damage to local businesses, schools and households, with hundreds of thousands of pounds lost in revenue at the busiest time of the year and a public health emergency declared. Eileen Leahy gives a timeline of what happened, how the community rallied to help the vulnerable and looks at ways companies and residents will hopefully be compensated
On November 29 more than 24,000 properties were hit by a water outage that left homes and businesses without water for a minimum of six days.
As the crisis escalated, water stations were opened at various distribution points across the town. Communications from South East Water (SEW), which was responsible for the outage, were widely criticised. The issue stemmed from water quality problems at the Pembury Water Treatment Station. Mike Martin MP, along with many residents and business owners, criticised SEW for poor information, unclear updates and repeatedly missed deadlines.
Mr Martin described SEW’s handling of the situation as ‘woeful’ and called for CEO David Hinton to be sacked ‘immediately’ for what he described as a ‘total failure of leadership’. After six days without running water he declared the situation a public health emergency. His party leader Sir Ed Davey visited Tunbridge Wells to witness the crisis first-hand and raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions on December 3.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the fallout from the outage was ‘shocking’ and had ‘real consequences’.
Once water stations were set up at various locations including St John’s Sports Centre and Knights Way, roads became gridlocked as people queued for supplies. Businesses and some schools were unable to reopen and households still had no clear information on when water would return.
To try to secure support, Mike Martin met with the Minister for Water, Emma Hardy MP. Following their meeting he wrote to Ms Hardy calling for compensation for businesses in Tunbridge Wells that would go ‘beyond the minimum regulatory standards’.
He stressed that the outage had struck during what should have been ‘the busiest period of the year’ and urged swift action.
“I asked this because of the very real chance that this crisis will see businesses go under,” he said, comparing the losses to those felt during the Covid pandemic.
He added: “I, and I am sure you and the Prime Minister, will want to do everything possible to make sure that this doesn’t happen again, causing further anguish in our community and a loss of revenue to the Exchequer. The people of Tunbridge Wells have suffered enough already without them also losing their livelihoods.”
Mr Martin asked the government to support his request for up to £18.5 million to be released to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) to support business continuity and recovery.
He also wrote to the Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, urging the deployment of a Business Recovery Grant Scheme in Tunbridge Wells.
The outage forced schools, GP surgeries and countless bars, cafes, restaurants, offices and retailers to close for an unprecedented period, resulting in severe financial losses. Care homes and sheltered housing were also affected. Temporary toilets were installed at Fiveways and The Pantiles.
This latest outage is the third in three years to cause major disruption to local businesses. Two of those incidents have taken place in the run-up to Christmas and all have lasted for at least six days.
Mr Martin said he would continue to put pressure on SEW to ensure a satisfactory resolution for all affected. There will be a public evidence session due to take place on 6 January 2026.
Council Leader Ben Chapelard commented: “This is another water catastrophe for our residents and local businesses. South East Water will have many questions to answer once service is back to normal.”
At the time of going to press the SEW boil notice was still in effect. This meant tap water could not be consumed and water for washing up had to be boiled. Many cafes, bars and restaurants warned that if the indefinite notice continued much longer they would be at risk of closure.
Alex Green, CEO of RTW Together BID, told Tunbridge Wells Business Magazine: “The water crisis hit at the worst possible time for trading and hospitality. We have set up the ‘Keep Tunbridge Wells Trading’ campaign, encouraging residents to shop local, eat local and support local wherever possible now and in the coming months to help businesses recoup some of their losses.”
Andrew Metcalf, Chair of Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce and Managing Director of Tunbridge Wells PR and marketing agency Maxim, said: “Things have been pretty tough for businesses recently, especially those in the hospitality sector. The water outage and unexpected forced closure of many shops and food outlets has hit hard. Throw in the practical and financial hurdles businesses face to safely re-open and it’s a perfect storm that could force some to take very difficult decisions.
“We would urge the government and South East Water to urgently look at how to properly compensate those businesses impacted as quickly and generously as possible.”
Mike Martin MP has been widely praised for his swift response and his efforts to hold SEW to account, particularly to ensure that losses are recovered.
“I will be fighting for both households and businesses to receive timely compensation from South East Water that goes well beyond the minimum regulatory standards,” he said.
“My Lib Dem colleague, Chair of the Environment Committee, has summoned the CEO of South East Water to a hearing in the new year and I urge all businesses and customers to share their experience of the crisis with the committee ahead of its session.”
Mr Martin added that with the boil notice still in place many businesses were still struggling to operate normally.
“If you run a business that has been affected by the outage, please complete our short survey outlining your situation. Your feedback will help me build a comprehensive picture of the impact and strengthen the case for fair compensation.”
