BASINGSTOKE'S council leader has accused South East Water of "dodging key questions" and "hiding behind" a planning appeal after it responded to concerns about a looming water supply crisis, without directly addressing a single one of them.
As previously reported, Cllr Paul Harvey, and cabinet member for strategic planning and infrastructure, Cllr Andy Konieczko, wrote to South East Water (SEW) on June 12, setting out a series of urgent demands on behalf of Basingstoke residents, including calls for the company to immediately begin work on the Surrey Hills to Basingstoke pipeline and to publish legally binding delivery plans with fixed, enforceable dates.
In a reply dated June 22, SEW chief executive David Hinton acknowledged the councillors' concerns but declined to answer their questions directly, saying the issues raised were "amongst the key issues which will be central to the appeal inquiry" and that "full and comprehensive answers" would be provided during a public inquiry process instead.
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Mr Hinton said SEW had lodged a formal appeal against the Environment Agency's decision to refuse the company's application to extend its groundwater extraction licence at Greywell until March 2031, and described the situation as "a complex issue". He added that the company was "evaluating all the data and exploring every option" on the alternative pipeline.
Cllr Harvey said the response was not good enough.
He said: "This is utterly inadequate and completely dodges the key questions we have asked in our letter published last week. You can see how they avoid addressing the concerns we raise on behalf of residents. They are hiding behind the appeal inquiry. The people of Basingstoke deserve answers, not corporate games swerving accountability."
The council's original letter warned that SEW's own written communications had flagged a "severe and immediate water shortage" and that the company had knowingly continued to drain Greywell Fen, which is an internationally protected Site of Special Scientific Interest, beyond safe limits, despite its own Water Resources Management Plan setting a deadline to stop.
The pipeline that was supposed to replace the Greywell source has never been built, after the water regulator declined to fund it. Homes continued to be built across the borough in the interim, with neither the water company nor the government intervening.
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