Nia with Tracy Thomas in Cleviston Park
Nia Griffith MP has welcomed action from Environment Minister John Griffiths which means that, from 1st October this year, the responsibility for maintaining so-called “private” sewers and lateral drains in Wales will fall fairly and squarely to water and sewerage companies rather than householders.
Speaking about the importance of this move for local residents Nia commented
“This will come as a great relief for residents of estates like Cleviston Park in Llangennech, Dolau Fan in Burry Port and Derlyn Park in Tycroes who have been living in dread of anything going wrong with their sewers and landing them with hefty repair bills – it’s been a long haul, first making sure adoption of sewers was included in the Flood and Water Act 2010 that we passed in Parliament, then using petitioning and meetings to keep up the pressure on our Assembly Ministers to prioritise sorting out the financial issues with the water companies and enacting the legislation here in Wales. This transfer of private sewers is all about fairness for the consumer and ensuring that all homes connected to the public sewer system receive the same level of service. Too often in the past householders on some housing estates have not even been aware that their sewers were “private” that is unadopted, until something went wrong and they found that the water company would not pay. ”
Tracy Thomas, one of the residents affected by the change, said “I’m over the moon. I’ve been so worried about further problems with the sewers here meaning further bills, and now we can be sure that it will be Welsh Water who have to pay. I’m really grateful to Nia for all her work in sorting this out.”