Our message to councillors

Published on 28/06/2026

 Every single Parish and Town Council in Cornwall just received a defensive, glossy letter from Pennon Group’s Head of Local Government Affairs, Alan Burrows. They are panicking because our grassroots Dowr Glan campaign is successfully uniting local councils (41 and counting) to declare a formal Vote of No Confidence in South West Water (SWW).

Pennon wants our elected officials to believe they are "leading change" with a promised £2.8 billion regional investment and a pledge to meet overflow targets by 2040. They even have the audacity to boast that 88 out of 89 Cornish bathing waters were rated 'Good' or 'Excellent' in 2025.

But let’s look at the actual reality of how SWW and Pennon have treated our communities over the last few months alone.

The SWW Track Record: A String of Recent Scandals (and it’s only 2026!)

●        The £270,000 "Parasite Outbreak" Bonus (June 2026): Just days ago, it was revealed that former Pennon CEO Susan Davy was handed a massive £270k bonus after SWW was fined £2m. This is the exact corporate executive who oversaw the catastrophic cryptosporidium parasite outbreak that poisoned Brixham drinking water, sickened over 140 people, and forced thousands of families to boil their water for over 50 days. Rewarding this failure while residents foot the bill is a slap in the face to every customer in the South West.

●        Devon County Council leader said “water company bosses should be locked up" over sewage spills (June 2026): Cllr Julian Brazil added: "We've heard it all before, haven't we? 'Lessons learned, we're very sorry,'" and added the firm was still "paying themselves obscene amounts of money, pumping out dividends, boosting the share price". On government plans to overhaul water regulation, Brazil said the council had heard similar promises before and felt it had been "let down basically by the authorities", adding that it now felt it had to step in itself. Devon County Council is now preparing to take legal action against the firm.

●        The Smart Meter Bill-Doubling Nightmare (June 2026): Hundreds of families across Newquay, St Austell, Grampound, and Probus are locked in a battle with SWW. The company has been accused of installing new "faulty" smart meters without warning, causing local residents' household water bills to suddenly and inexplicably double or triple overnight.

●        Water outages without recourse in Penwith (May 2026): residents and businesses in Nancledra, Carbis Bay, Halsetown, Cripplesease, Towednack and surrounding areas have been left without water supply for days with no water offered as a mean of relief.

●        18 Criminal Guilt Pleas for Toxic Pollution (March 2026): SWW can no longer hide behind cherry-picked environmental data. In March, they pleaded guilty in court to a staggering catalogue of 18 criminal charges for illegal sewage discharges spanning six years. This included dumping untreated waste directly onto popular tourist spots like Harlyn Beach and into the environmentally protected River Camel. Their criminal sentencing is scheduled for July 30, 2026.

●        Raw sewage flowing in the main street of Stithians (March 2026): in recent months Stithians has been flooded with raw sewage, “including excrement, toilet paper, sanitary products and hypodermic syringes” said shocked local residents.

●        Raw Sewage’ Seen Pouring in Penryn and Stithians main streets, Widemouth Bay beach in Bude (February 2026): inadequate infrastructure lead to sewage bursting on Cornish main streets, while Ben Maguire MP was seen seething on camera at Widemouth Bay beach witnessing a river of raw sewage pouring on the popular bathing spot for Cornish kids.

●        Ongoing Silence and Delays: While Pennon claims they are "ready to be held to account", local communities across Cornwall are still actively waiting for answers regarding chronic infrastructure failures and the ongoing sewage spills that threaten our health and our local economies.

✊ To Our Cornish Parish & Town Councillors: Hold the Line

"Meaningful environmental improvement takes time," Pennon tells us. We say: you’ve had 36 years, and you chose prioritising shareholders dividends, executive payouts and environmental neglect instead. There is no coming back from abject failure.

Pennon's sudden "proactive engagement" isn't goodwill, it is a desperate corporate lobbying attempt to stop a democratic surge. They want to bypass the public's anger, protect their profit margins, and sweet-talk councils into compliance before upcoming meetings.

We are calling on all Cornish councillors to reject this corporate spin. Stand with your residents, not with corporate greed, protect our waters, and push forward with the Vote of No Confidence. It is time to strip SWW of its license and return our water system to public hands where it belongs.

🌊 Sign the petition, join the movement, and let’s reclaim our waters: www.dowrglan.org

The Dowr Glan campaign committee

#DowrGlan #SickofWW #CleanWaterNow #Cornwall #Kernow