Send army into Tunbridge Wells to fix water crisis, Starmer told
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to use the military to respond to a disruption that has left thousands of homes without a decent water supply.
A major incident was declared on Monday as 30,000 properties in Kent and Sussex were affected by problems with their water supply. South East Water (SEW) blamed Storm Goretti and cold weather, which caused burst pipes and power outages, for the situation in 11 postcode areas.
Thousands of homes were still experiencing problems on Tuesday, with people in Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, Maidstone, Whitstable, Canterbury and surrounding areas facing supply issues. This is the second outage in two months, with 24,000 people affected in Tunbridge Wells in December 2025.
SEW said crews were working “around the clock” and apologized for the disruption as bottled water was distributed to residents. In an update on Tuesday morning, the water company said around 25,000 customers in Kent and Sussex continue to be affected by water or interrupted supply.
It was stated that water supplies had returned to Loose in Maidstone, Blean near Canterbury, Headcorn, West Kingsdown and parts of Tunbridge Wells.
Dry Wells Action, a community group set up in Tunbridge Wells to respond to shortages, called for the military to be sent to their town to deal with the logistics of restoring water.
SEW has installed numerous bottled water stations in the area and said in its update that the network “takes time to refill and build pressure” and that tankers are being used to pump water into the network.
Jonathan Hawker, who runs the campaign from Tunbridge Wells, said: Independent: “What we really need in terms of a short-term solution is for the government to step in and bring in outside help from people with the logistical knowledge and resources to ensure the addition is made after the pump station and reservoir, even though South East Water cannot do this on its own.
“We would welcome army professionals who specialize in logistics to guide South East Water on how to do their job.”
Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead brought a water tanker to site to keep the water supply running until the situation is resolved, while some schools around Maidstone remained closed on Tuesday due to ongoing problems.
On Monday, residents in the affected areas said: Independent They regularly face water shortages.
Joanne Lee, 53, from Ulcombe, Kent, said the problems were happening so frequently that she had to change her routine and would not leave her home without filling her water bottles.
“Sometimes it can take a few hours, sometimes it can take days. I have never lived in a place like this,” he said.
“I got into a routine of filling my bathroom so I could use it to flush the toilet. It became a daily routine because the water supply is so intermittent that it shouldn’t happen either.” [be] Normal for England.
“I never leave my house without my kettle full, my refrigerator full of water, I always leave my house full in case I don’t have water when I get home.”
Mr Hawker said more needed to be done to improve water supply in Tunbridge Wells, beyond the short-term fix currently underway.
He said: “What we need as a phase two is an independent assessment by a government-appointed expert to look into the flaws in the infrastructure that SEW needs to serve this city and what needs to be done to modernize it, so that there is some resilience in the system. We certainly don’t trust SEW to do this on their own.”
Several MPs in the affected area have called on the government to sack the company’s chief executive, David Hinton.
Shadow work and pensions minister Helen Whately said around 5,000 properties were affected in the Faversham and Mid Kent constituency.
He said: “This is not the first time South East Water’s chief executive has shown us that he is not up to the job. May I urge the honorable lady to use whatever power she has to mobilize him?”
Mims Davies, Conservative MP for East Grinstead, Uckfield and villages, said: “Given the numerous and repeated serious failures at South East Water over the last five years, does the Minister agree with me that this water company needs urgent new leadership that can deal with emergencies properly?”
Water minister Emma Hardy offered no support to SEW’s chief executive, saying the situation at the company was “beyond belief”.
A SEW spokesman said: “The company is working with a range of partners and the wider supply chain to both provide alternative water and restore public water supply as we respond to current water supply issues in Kent and Sussex.
“Mutual assistance has been sought and received from neighboring water companies and through our local Resilience Forum and Sussex 4 x 4, and we would like to thank our partners for their continued support.”
An Ofwat spokesman said on Monday: “We are concerned that residents in Kent and Sussex could be left without water again and are working closely with the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the lead regulator of this latest supply disruption, to ensure regulation and enforcement are compliant.
“Ofwat currently has an active investigation into South East Water’s supply flexibility and we have met with the company as part of this investigation to discuss these recent events.
“We will examine all the evidence before making a decision as to what further steps may be required, including further possible enforcement action, regarding whether the company has met its legal obligations set out in its license in relation to customer service.”
South East Water incident manager Steve Andrews apologized to customers and said the company’s focus was on “returning supplies to our customers as quickly as possible”.
