Oxfordshire campaigners call for Thames Water reckoning

The MP for Witney as well as the leaders of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP) – who were recently portrayed in Channel 4 docu-drama Dirty Business – have called for the UK’s largest water company to be put into special administration, as has West Oxfordshire District Council.

Furthermore, a petition to hold a binding national referendum on whether the water industry should be returned to public ownership has now reached 100,000 signatures.

READ MORE: Thames Water probe as Oxfordshire village stream turns brown

This was set up by Ash Smith and Professor Peter Hammond of WASP and will now be considered for a parliamentary debate.

Special administration, which does not mean nationalisation, is a modified insolvency process for critical companies, by which the service would be maintained.

Ash Smith and Peter Hammond of WASP by the Windrush river, reflecting on Channel 4 drama Dirty Business (Image: Ed Nix)

The water supplier for 16m people across London and the Thames Valley is more than £17bn in debt and last year was handed a record £122.7m fine, largely for breaching wastewater regulations.

Mr Smith, who was portrayed by Harry Potter actor David Thewlis, said the company should have been put into special administration a long time ago.

He said: “We favour special administration, but it must result in some form of modern public ownership and the ditching of the privatisation model.”

Charlie Maynard, the MP for Witney, is also in favour of putting the company into special administration and said the UK is an outlier globally for having its water companies privately-owned.

Charlie Maynard (Image: Oxfordshire Liberal Democrat MPs)

The Liberal Democrat said: “We want it to be put into special administration and then for that debt to be written down to a level which allows the company to come out of special administration to do what it needs to do.

“That is to start cutting the pollution and provide us with adequate water and sewerage services.”

It has been reported that Thames Water is close to a deal with regulator Ofwat which would see it avoid fines for four years, as long as it invests in the business.

Thames Water (Image: Other)

This has not yet been approved by the regulator, which is said to be divided on the deal. Mr Maynard called the proposal “garbage” and said it “does not serve customers at all”.

Thames Water, like the UK Government, favours a market-led solution, and the company said it made a record £1.26bn capital investment in the first six months of 2025/26.

The spokesperson added: “Special administration would delay urgently needed improvements, increase costs, transfer risk and potentially create operational disruption, while not resolving the core regulatory and structural challenges facing Thames Water.”

These challenges include public anger over sewage spills in national waterways.

The pollution incident at a Church Hanborough stream is being investigated by the Environment Agency (Image: Evenlode Catchment Partnership)

Data on sewage spills from sewagemap.co.uk shows the treatment plant at Carterton has poured sewage into local rivers for 738 hours over the past six months.

At Witney it is at 578 hours and at South Leigh it is at 1,950 hours.

Recent a local waterway next to the Church Hanborough Sewage Treatment Plant turned brown sparking an Environment Agency investigation.

Once the incident had been reported Thames Water put containment booms in the waterway which have since been removed.

The company added that the site is now operating as normal.

Liam Walker at Church Hanborough Sewage Treatment Plant (Image: Liam Walker)

Local councillor Liam Walker said the “concerning incident” showed infrastructure is not up to scratch especially considering the large number of developments planned.

READ MORE: MP speaks out after refusing to push for Thames Water special administration

The Conservative said: “At the same time, West Oxfordshire District Council is proposing around 18,000 new homes across the district.

“Without serious, upfront investment in water, sewage, and drainage, this level of growth will only make existing problems worse. Infrastructure must come first – not as an afterthought.”

Mr Maynard also expressed his concerns about infrastructure in the face of the large number of homes in the pipeline.