PARK home residents fighting for fairer water bills in Mancot have received full support from Flintshire County Council as they demand the same rights as other homeowners or tenants.
People living in ‘park homes’ – or static caravans – on the Willow Park site on Gladstone Way are campaigning for Welsh Government and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water to give them the legal right to have water meters fitted after discovering they had been vastly overcharged.
On average residents – who are mostly retired and on fixed incomes – were being charged around £65 per month. But after some residents installed water meters they found their typical water use resulted in a bill of just £16.
The right to a water meter is something most people take for granted – but people in park homes are not currently included, leaving them vulnerable to whatever fees Welsh Water choose to charge and forcing them to foot the bill when leaks occur on the sites where they live.
Now Flintshire People’s Voice councillor Sam Swash – who represents Mancot – has brought a notice of motion calling on Flintshire County Council to take up residents’ fight and formally write to the First Minister Eluned Morgan and to Welsh Water to raise serious concerns over excess water bills being charged to park home residents across Flintshire.
At Flintshire’s full council meeting, councillors unanimously backed the proposal after an impassioned presentation from Cllr Swash.
“These residents have been spending more than four times what they should have been,” said Cllr Swash. “They have taken it upon themselves to pay for private water meters to be installed and the data gathered has shown they should be paying less than £16 per month.
“At its peak they have been charged over £65 per month. The reason for this is clear – significant leaks in the site’s water and sewage network, confirmed by Welsh Water. Leaks which the site owner has no incentive to fix.
“Instead the costs are simply passed on to residents many of whom simply can’t afford these excessive charges.
“This isn’t just a local issue. It is a systemic problem facing park home residents across Wales. Park home residents do not have a legal right to request a water meter from their supplier.
“This leaves them at the mercy of site owners who can neglect their responsibilities whilst forcing residents to pick up the tab.
“Water companies, as service providers, have a duty to ensure fair treatment for customers and prevent the waste of a precious resource.”
Data collected by residents at Willow Park shows that over five million gallons of water are lost every year at the site due to leaks.
Cllr Richard Lloyd, who was part of a site visit conducted by the authority’s licensing committee which has also looked into the matter, made his feelings clear.
“It was obvious from our site visit that it’s not looked after well by the owners at all. It’s obvious the site owners don’t care about the site, they don’t care about the water leakage because they are getting paid for it anyway.”
Cllr Mike Peers added: “I think we should have no hesitation in supporting this. It is exploitation and the residents are being poorly treated. It has to change.”
Cllr Swash branded the matter a ‘scandal’ and urged the council to support residents by writing to the First Minister, Welsh Government and Welsh Water calling for action.
“This is a financial scandal and an environmental scandal” he said. “Despite knowing about this for years, both Welsh Government and Welsh Water have failed to prevent it.
“Instead residents are being told by them that their only option is to pursue a lengthy and costly legal battle – a completely unreasonable expectation for people on limited incomes.
“The solution is simple – give park home residents the legal right to an individual water meter. Doing so would immediately end this grotesque overcharging, force site owners to take responsibility for maintaining their own infrastructure and prevent the shocking, completely avoidable waste of water that’s occurring as a result of these leaks.
“This is about basic fairness. No resident should be paying for water they aren’t using. This injustice must end.
“Welsh Water and Welsh Government could fix this tomorrow if they wanted to. It’s about time they stopped passing responsibility on to residents to fix the problem.”
