Send military into Tunbridge Wells to repair water disaster, Starmer instructed | EUROtoday

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to make use of the military to reply to an outage that has left 1000’s of properties with no correct water provide.

A significant incident was declared on Monday as 30,000 properties in Kent and Sussex had been affected by issues with their water provide. South East Water (SEW) blamed the scenario, throughout 11 postcode areas, on Storm Goretti and chilly climate inflicting burst pipes and energy cuts.

People in Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, Maidstone, Whitstable, Canterbury and the encompassing areas confronted points with provide, with 1000’s of properties nonetheless experiencing issues on Tuesday. This is the second time in two months that outages have occurred, with 24,000 folks in Tunbridge Wells affected in December 2025.

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SEW stated groups are working “around the clock” and has apologised for the outage, as bottled water has been handed out to residents. In an replace on Tuesday morning, the water firm stated round 25,000 clients in Kent and Sussex stay affected by no water or intermittent provides.

It stated that water provides are returning to Loose in Maidstone, Blean close to Canterbury, Headcorn, West Kingsdown and elements of Tunbridge Wells.

Dry Wells Action, a neighborhood group arrange in Tunbridge Wells to reply to the shortages, has referred to as for the military to be despatched into their city to take care of the logistics of restoring water.

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SEW has arrange a variety of bottled water stations across the area and stated in its replace that the community “takes time to refill and build pressure”, with tankers getting used to pump water into it.

Jonathan Hawker, working the marketing campaign from Tunbridge Wells, instructed The Independent: “In terms of the short-term fix, what we really need is the government to intervene and bring outside help in from people with logistics nous and resources to ensure that the top-up after the pumping station and the reservoir is conducted, despite the inability of South East Water to do this themselves.

“We would welcome the professionals of the army, who are experts in logistics, giving guidance to South East Water on how to do their job.”

Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead has introduced a water tanker onsite to maintain its provide working till the scenario is resolved, whereas a variety of colleges round Maidstone remained closed on Tuesday because of the continuing issues.

On Monday, residents in affected areas instructed The Independent they face water shortages regularly.

Joanne Lee, 53 and from Ulcombe in Kent, defined that the problems are so frequent she has been compelled to vary her routine and doesn’t depart her house with out filling up water bottles.

“Sometimes it can be for a couple of hours, sometimes it’s for days. I’ve never lived anywhere like it,” she stated.

“I’ve got into the routine of filling up my bath, so I can use that to flush the toilet. It has become an everyday routine because the water supply is so intermittent, and that shouldn’t [be] normal for the UK.

“I never leave my house without a full kettle, my fridge water filled up, I always leave my house with everything full just in case when I come home I’ve got no water.”

Mr Hawker stated extra wanted to be achieved to enhance the water provide in Tunbridge Wells, past the short-term repair ongoing in the meanwhile.

He stated: “What we need as a second phase is an independent assessment by an expert appointed by government to explore the flaws within the infrastructure that SEW has to serve this town and what needs to be done to modernise it, so there is some resilience in the system. We simply don’t trust SEW doing it themselves.”

Multiple MPs from throughout the impacted space referred to as for the federal government to take away the corporate’s chief government, David Hinton, from his submit.

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Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately stated round 5,000 properties in her Faversham and Mid Kent constituency had been impacted.

She stated: “It is not for the first time the chief executive of South East Water has shown us he is not up to the job. Can I urge the honourable lady to use any power she has to move him on?”

Mims Davies, Conservative MP for East Grinstead, Uckfield and the villages, stated: “With multiple and repeated South East Water serious failings in just the last five years, does the minister agree with me this water company needs urgent new leadership capable of properly addressing emergency situations?”

Water minister Emma Hardy didn’t provide any assist for SEW’s chief government, saying the scenario on the firm “beggars belief”.

A SEW spokesperson stated: “In responding to the current water supply issues in Kent and Sussex, the company is working with a number of partners and the wider supply chain to both provide alternate water and return the public water supply.

“Mutual aid has been sought and received from neighbouring water companies and through our local Resilience Forum and Sussex 4 x 4, we would to like to thank our partners for their continued support.”

An Ofwat spokesperson said on Monday: “We are concerned that residents in Kent and Sussex are without water again, and are working closely with the Drinking Water Inspectorate, which is the lead regulator for this latest supply interruption, to ensure that regulation and enforcement is aligned.

“Ofwat already has an active investigation into South East Water related to its supply resilience, and we have met with the company to discuss these latest incidents as part of that investigation.

“We will review all of the evidence before taking a decision on what further action may be required into whether the company has met its legal obligations set out in its licence relating to customer care, including with further potential enforcement action.”

South East Water incident supervisor Steve Andrews apologised to clients and stated the corporate’s focus was on “returning supplies to our customers as soon as possible”.