Gloucestershire County Council is to ask central government to consider nationalising failing water and wastewater provider Thames Water, thanks to a Green Party motion.

The motion at the full meeting on Wednesday (July 16) called on Government to review the case for nationalisation of Thames Water and the wider UK water industry, including the potential for restructuring the industry into one or more public benefit companies. It also called for the future of Thames Water to be subject to a transparent, democratic process, with scrutiny from politicians from areas supplied by Thames Water; trade unions and workers; citizens’ groups, and environmental organisations. 

The motion, proposed by Cllr Chloe Turner (Green, Minchinhampton) and seconded by Cllr Paul Hodgkinson (Liberal Democrat, Bourton-on-the-Water & Northleach), passed with majority support.

Thames Water serves thousands of customers across eastern Gloucestershire and has been widely criticised for its poor record on leaks and sewage pollution, as well as its huge debts.

Cllr Turner has been working with Compass, a cross-party campaigning organisation for a good society, which campaigns on the public ownership of water. Lena Swedlow, campaigns manager for Compass, said: “It’s wonderful to see Gloucestershire County Council pass this motion, the latest in an ever-growing number of motions supported by Lib Dem, Green, and Labour councillors across the Thames region.

“Local people and local government are constantly ahead of Westminster on this – from grassroots anti-sewage campaigners to county councils, the national movement for clean, affordable water is succeeding. Local leaders know that public ownership of water is the global norm and that industry workers, environmental experts and the general public remain clear in their demands.”

Cllr Turner said: “Water is too important a resource to be in private hands. For Greens, nationalisation is the only credible option to end the unlawful dumping of sewage, stop rewarding shareholders for failure, reinvest all profits back into fixing leaks, and build new infrastructure fit for the future.”

She added: “The government claims nationalisation would cost too much, but this assessment is based on a report commissioned by the water companies, who are hardly unbiased sources. The reality, according to independent experts, is that Thames Water could be nationalised at minimal cost. And nationalisation works: water services in 90% of the world are already in public ownership, which has been shown to bringgreat benefits to customers, staff and the environment.”

Cllr Hodgkinson said: “I’ve seen first-hand the widespread sewage pollution in the Cotswolds. This in itself is totally unacceptable but it’s clear that privatisation of the water industry has been a disaster for clean water, a disaster for Gloucestershire and a disaster for everyone in the Thames Water area.”

Green group leader Cllr Beki Hoyland (Forest of Dean: Blakeney & Bream) said: “We can exist for three minutes without air and for three days without water, it is one of our basic human requirements. Indeed it violates the UK’s health and safety regulations to deny tap water to someone.

“So how can something as basic as clean, drinkable water and the safe management of sewerage infrastructure be used to make huge individual and corporate profit? How can this vital service not have public scrutiny? This motion demonstrates this council’s support for taking water out of the hands of for-profit organisations.”

Cllr Turner is pictured with Cllr Steve Williams (Green) of Waverley Borough Council and Green peer Jenny Jones, Baroness of Moulsecoomb, outside the Royal Courts of Justice demanding a Thames Water “Alternative Board” earlier this year.

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1. Preventative-led Public Health & Care at a community scale – providing improved Social Care for the most vulnerable;greater prominence for preventative work, including social prescribing
2. Education for the Future – raising attainment for all young people, embedding sustainability and nature recovery into Gloucestershire’s educational system; investing in youth programmes
3. Safe Streets and Better Public Transport – prioritising maintenance and safety of the road network; improving public transport and active travel opportunities; strategic planning for effective, low-carbon transport infrastructure
4. Nature & Green Spaces – properly funding and delivering the Gloucestershire Local Nature Strategy, alongside the new National Forest, and continually increasing the area under nature protection; supporting the county’s growing expertise in natural flood management, and pushing for all County Council-owned land, including farms and verges, to be managed for nature and climate
5. A Thriving Local Economy– supporting local businesses of all sizes; maximising public procurement from the county’s sustainable businesses;
6. Clean, green jobs – further developing the low carbon economy, to bring jobs and income to the county
7. Buildings Fit for the Future – working to convert homes and public buildings to low-carbon heating systems: boosting jobs, reducing bills; ensuring all new county buildings meet the Building With Nature standard
8. Waste Less, Pollute Less – making ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ central to the Council’s planning in all areas; supporting the reduction of single use, promoting and funding community-led initiatives such as composting schemes, and minimising the residual waste sent to the incinerator, including securing any possible changes to the contract to incentivise this
9. Food & Farming – lobbying for proper funding for farmers, including the restoration of the Sustainable Farming Incentive; supporting farmers including in relation to the Government’s new Land Use Strategy, the 25-Year Farming Roadmap and its Food Strategy; recognising the role good, local food has to play in public health; promoting community food projects; halting the sell-off of the county farms
10. Local government reorganisation – engaging fully with the process and considering all the options for new unitary councils, while consulting residents, and supporting the option that gives the best future for local communities. Supporting Town and Parish councils as they prepare for the new Unitary arrangements.

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This is untrue.

What actually happened during the Budget setting was this:

Greens asked for amendments to the budget to give £420,000 to social and environmental projects. The Tories accepted our amendments.

Labour also asked for an amendment – to have £550,000 made available for councillor funding (which could have been used – as David Drew has done in the past – for community hubs).

The Tories rejected this amendment, and the Greens abstained as there was by then no money available for the amendment, because all of the pot had been allocated (to Green and jointly agreed amendments).

As there was no alternative budget on the table, Greens voted for the budget, since we’d got everything we’d asked for.

Since then, the Tories have found a spare £20,000 per councillor, and reinstated the councillor funding scheme anyway.

To repeat, Greens did NOT vote against the Labour amendment and we certainly did not vote to cut hub funding.

Click here to read the relevant minutes, where the relevant pages are 15-22.

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Stroud District Green Party has named its candidates for the Gloucestershire County Council elections on May 1.

The party is standing candidates in all 11 divisions in Stroud District, and is confident that it can increase the number of Green seats on GCC (currently four).

The Green candidates are as follows:

Bisley & Painswick: Cllr Gary Luff, district councillor for Painswick;

Haresfield & Upton: John Patient;

Stroud Central: Cllr Natalie Rothwell-Warn, district councillor for Stroud Slade;

Stonehouse: Tom Jarman;

Rodborough & Cainscross: Cllr Craig Horrocks, town councillor for Farmhill & Paganhill;

Minchinhampton: Cllr Chloe Turner, county and district councillor for Minchinhampton;

Nailsworth: Cllr Gill Thomas, district councillor for Minchinhampton;

Dursley: Dr Richard Dean;

Hardwicke & Severn: Kerri Tyler;

Cam Valley: Cllr Liz Hillary, town councillor for Stroud Central;

Wotton: Cllr Sue Fenton, town councillor for Stroud Trinity.

More details about each Green candidate can be found here: https://stroud.greenparty.org.uk/your-green-candidates-cc/

In addition, there will be at least seven Greens standing in other parts of the county.

The list of candidates from all parties: https://www.stroud.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/elections/gloucestershire-county-council-elections-and-stroud-central-district-ward-by-election-thursday-1-may-2025/other-notices

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Gerald was a significant figure in SDGP’s elections successes over a number of years in the 2010s, serving as both Elections Agent and Campaign Manager, as well as standing as a candidate at District, County and Parliamentary level. He introduced EARS (Election Agents Record System) to the local party, spending many hours slaving over the computer, while also being out and about organising campaigns.

He managed the Party’s first successful County campaign, when Sarah Lunnon was elected, and worked for Sarah through her two terms of term of office as a Green County Councillor. Gerald was also a passionate campaigner against the incinerator (commissioned by the Tory County Council) and chaired the GlosVAIN campaign group. 

Gerald would have loved to see more Greens elected to the County Council and Sue, his wife, hopes that this donation will go a small way towards helping to achieve that result in 2025.

The post Generous donation in memory aids our election campaign appeared first on Stroud District Green Party.

The funding comes as the result of amendments proposed by the council’s Green group when the council met to set the annual budget for the financial year starting in April. 

Natural Flood Management projects, which use natural processes to address flooding risk on roads and residential areas, create additional habitat for nature, along with attractive green surroundings for communities, will now receive £300,000 of funding.  

A further £100,000 originating via a motion put forward by Green group leader Cllr Cate Cody (Tewkesbury) will fund free bus passes for veterans seeking to return to work. And community libraries across the county will receive £2,000 each (a total of £16,000) to bridge the gap until their funding – which has remained static since they were established over a decade ago – is reviewed later this year.  

Cllr Chloe Turner (Green, Minchinhampton) said: “The flood management projects around the county are hugely positive and popular projects, and recent heavy rainfall has shown how vital such schemes are to protect Gloucestershire’s residents from the effects of flooding. 

“We were especially pleased that the Conservative administration chose to partner with us on the bus passes and libraries amendments – and that they have themselves added £2million to the budget to start installing solar panels on the council’s schools. This is something I have been urging them to do for some time – as it’s an opportunity to cut costs and reduce emissions across the county’s schools.” 

Other political groups gained funding for extra items including youth services, Public Rights of Way and rain gardens. 

The extra funding for the flood projects, bus passes and libraries brings to nearly £1million the amount of money won by the Green group for vital help for communities since the 2021 election. “This shows what councils can accomplish when there are Greens in the room to press for funding to help communities and the environment,” said Cllr Cody. 

Pictured: The Green group of councillors, left to right: Cate Cody (Tewkesbury), Chloe Turner (Minchinhampton), Beki Hoyland (Forest of Dean: Blakeney and Bream) and Chris McFarling (Forest of Dean: Sedbury).

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Last week we witnessed the extraordinary sight of GCC being heavily criticised by its own internal audit committee, over the secrecy surrounding the repeatedly delayed report into the cost of the Javelin Park incinerator. Members of the public can watch this video clip showing last week’s scenes at County Hall https://www.hashcut.com/v/xC3vsET

The chair of the Audit & Governance Committee, Cllr Nigel Robbins, essentially accused the council leadership of a cover-up for failing yet again to release the report into the £613million contract, the largest the council has ever entered into.

This report, by a well-known firm of accountants, has been kept secret even from councillors, meaning that, contrary to established democratic process, they have not been able to scrutinise the external auditors’ findings.

For this reason we applaud Cllr Robbins’ courage in going public with his concerns, questioning the integrity of the Conservative-led administration in suppressing the report until it is too late to affect the local election results (as we are now in ‘purdah’, meaning the council cannot, under election law, release politically sensitive information until after the elections on May 6).

Regarding the repeated and protracted delays in publishing the report, Cllr Robbins told the committee “It’s difficult to draw any other conclusion from these events than that our Authority has contrived to delay the report’s publication until it could be safely protected by the institution of purdah.” He went on to ask the committee: “Why would GCC wish to prevent publication of this oh so long-awaited report? …Not having been presented with the report, we can only guess that it contains substantial criticisms.”

The incinerator has been controversial since the contract was initially signed 10 years ago despite massive local opposition. A timeline of the Javelin Park saga can be seen here. https://communityr4c.com/background. This latest secret dossier is important because it is expected to be critical of the council over the contract. Not only did the council spend vast sums on the contract (far more than would have been necessary for alternative methods of waste disposal), ignoring concerns from the public and councillors, but it has also thrown yet more taxpayers’ money at taking legal action to try to silence campaigners who demanded that the facts are made public.

For the chair of the council’s own audit committee to make such remarks about the council is extremely serious. When huge sums of public money are spent, and those holding the purse strings refuse to release details, there are clearly serious questions to be answered relating to transparency, integrity and financial probity.

Shrouding financial details in secrecy and stifling opposition, is not the way a financially responsible administration should behave. A Green administration would have allowed elected councillors to scrutinise the deal from the outset, but it is highly unlikely that we would have ever considered a polluting incinerator as the solution in the first place. There are far more environmentally friendly options, cheaper ones too, which would have allowed that extra money to be spent on promoting waste reduction and more recycling.

Now is the time for the administration to put a stop to the speculation and the growing concerns over its integrity, by committing to publishing, at the earliest possible opportunity, all the documents relating to Javelin Park, so that councillors and the public can decide for themselves whether this was money well spent.

Yours sincerely,

Chloe Turner, Green Party county council candidate for Minchinhampton, on behalf of:

Cheltenham Green Party

Cotswold Green Party

Forest of Dean Green Party

Gloucester Green Party

Stroud District Green Party

Tewkesbury Green Party

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