I recently met with John Halsall, South East Water’s CEO-Designate, and Lisa Clement, Interim Chair of the Board, to discuss the challenges facing my constituents and the urgent need to improve communication, resilience, and reliability across Maidstone and Malling.
I welcomed John and Lisa’s transparency, honesty, and commitment to making improvements. They were clear that the current service provided by South East Water is not good enough and that significant change is needed.
John outlined two key transformation plans: a short-term six-month plan focused on improving resilience, communication, and ensuring customers come first when incidents occur; and a longer-term plan to move South East Water from reacting to problems to proactively investing in the infrastructure needed to deliver a more reliable service.
I am also hopeful that my constituency will benefit from the new £50 million Butler Water Treatment Works in Aylesford, which has recently begun operating. At full capacity, it will be able to supply an additional 20 million litres of water a day to Kent.
I will continue to hold South East Water to account and ensure the voices of local residents are heard as these improvements are delivered.
