Bobby Dean explains the Liberal Democrats' proposals to radically change the way our water companies are run.

The drought this summer, hosepipe bans around the country and pleas for us to use less water once again highlight the shocking state of our national water infrastructure.

The water industry regulator, Ofwat, reckoned that about a fifth of all fresh water put into the system gets lost as leaks. Campaign group River Action estimates that Thames Water leaks 570 million litres of treated drinking water every day, as well as being responsible for sewage discharges in our area.

We are lucky in Sutton that our local drinking water supplier, SES Water, has one of the lowest leakage rates in the country, but they still lose about 76 litres per property per day .

As many of you know, I have been an active campaigner for change in the water industry due to the shocking sewage and oil pollution of our local River Wandle, one of London’s precious chalk streams, destroying wildlife and threatening years of ecological recovery. I and the other Liberal Democrats in Parliament are calling for major reform:

• Transform water companies into public benefit companies, focused on people and the environment, not just profit.
• Introduce a Sewage Tax on water company profits to fund clean-up efforts and infrastructure upgrades
• Set legally binding targets to end sewage dumping into bathing waters and sensitive nature sites by 2030
• Protect customers from rising bills: We’ve fought to ensure that creditors, not bill payers, cover the cost when water companies go bankrupt. It’s unacceptable that over a third of your water bill goes toward servicing company debt instead of fixing leaks or cleaning up pollution. 

We are pleased to see the Government has backed our manifesto call to scrap Ofwat and replace it with a tough new regulator. We want to ensure that this new body has the powers to revoke licences, ban executive bonuses, and mandate real-time data on sewage discharges.

Locally, I’ll continue to fight for the Wandle and for clean, safe water across our community. Nationally, I’ll keep pushing for a system that prioritises transparency, accountability, security of supply, and environmental protection.

– Bobby Dean

Spades will be in the ground in early September as work begins to restore a stretch of the River Wandle around Culvers Avenue in Hackbridge.

Historic modifications to the river have reduced water quality in the area and damaged the habitats that local wildlife depends on.

The project, led by South East Rivers Trust, will restore around 350 metres of the Wandle. The riverbed will be reshaped to create shallow riffles and deeper pools, providing habitat for fish.

Trees will be cut back to allow more light to reach the river and its banks. The wood sourced from this will then be used in the river to create structures called berms, that improve the flow of water.

Independent experts have confirmed that the works will not increase the risk of flooding to nearby homes.

Bobby Dean MP has been supportive of the project and attended a local drop in with South East Rivers Trust.

Bobby Dean sets out his view on what to do about the changes in the climate that we have all been experiencing.

The extreme weather we have experienced this year has focused everyone’s attention on climate change and what we should do about it.

Some people still deny that it is happening and say that efforts to combat it are a waste of time and money. I disagree with them strongly.

Climate change presents a catastrophic threat. Successive Governments have comprehensively failed to take climate adaptation measures seriously, guaranteeing misery for people and communities affected by flooding, wildfires and heat stress.

Renewables are key to energy production of the low-carbon future; to make homes healthy and cheap to heat; to support green jobs and economic growth. Liberal Democrats are champions of renewable energy which is clean, cheap and popular. We have a strong record on renewable energy from our time in Government running the Department for Energy and Climate Change; we nearly quadrupled the amount of energy generated from renewables and made the UK the world leader in offshore wind.

At our Autumn Conference 2025, we passed an ambitious policy paper which explains how Liberal Democrats want this generation to be the first to leave the UK, and the world, in a better condition than we found it, including committing to achieving 95% decarbonisation of power by 2030, and support further growth to enable electricity to replace fossil fuel use in other sectors.

I don’t know how anyone who has been in the Houses of Parliament in a heatwave can fail to believe in global warming! I can promise you that climate action remains an important issue for me. 

– Bobby Dean

It’s February when our sleepy parks spring into life with non apologetic colour! The efforts of volunteers finally gets rewarded for the hours of back ache grafting. Bulbs, bulbs, bulbs!

But their importance is more than just aesthetic. Much more.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) views spring-flowering bulbs as a vital, highvalue food lifeline that supports emerging pollinators when other garden resources are scarce.

Their key biodiversity benefits include early nectar and pollen: Spring bulbs provide some of the earliest food supplies for hungry bees, butterflies, and hoverflies waking from winter hibernation.

They create naturalistic habitats. Planting bulbs in lawns or grass creates structural diversity and transforms uniform turf into a richer wildlife habitat.

In the boroughs parks and green spaces planting has focused on early Crocus, which blooms from Feb–Mar and help queen bumblebees. They grow really well in our sunny parklands.

Snowdrops also feature and bloom in Jan–Feb. They feed winter bees. And they’re great in our shaded tree areas.

And Wild Daffodils They extend the bloom season from March into April. Their simple shape allows easy insect access.

Did you know… volunteers and Friends Groups have planted over 170,000 bulbs over the last 5 years. 

And will be planting even more this autumn!

- Cllr Andrew Jenner

The London Borough of Sutton actively expands its green canopy through a long-term sustainability goal to plant 2,000 new trees every year across community, council, and developer-led schemes. 

This not just for a pleasant suburban aesthetic.

Planting trees provides major benefits: cleaning the air by absorbing pollutants, fighting climate change by storing carbon, supporting local wildlife and biodiversity, reducing flood risks through better water management, and improving human mental health via green spaces. Woodland Trust 

Trees are crucial for our mental health. According to King’s College London ‘urban trees provide daily contact with nature, boosting happiness and resilience’.

And at Cuddington Recreation Ground The flood alleviation scheme will have trees and meadow planting around a newly created wetland. This scheme in the flood risk zone will reduced the flow rate, taking pressure off the drains further down in the town. The planting here will also add colour and vibrancy whilst also providing shelter for wetland wildlife and invertebrates.

And of course, there is the aesthetic. The London borough of Sutton is well known and admired for it’s green spaces and leafy suburbs. Sutton ranks as one of London's greenest boroughs, with over 1,500 acres of open space and 89 parks protecting more than 190,000 trees. This vast canopy covers over 25% of the borough, creating a unique urban ecosystem that defines its suburban character.

I think we can say that trees are an important asset that links everything important to our existence together.

So it is important we build on this inheritance as the Canadian pioneer Nelson Henderson said ‘the true meaning of life is to plant trees, in whose shade you do not expect to sit’. 

So I can proudly say the council has planted over 16,000 trees in the last 5 years. And if we can continue to find the funding we will commit to planting 2,000 more, every year for the next 4 years. 

- Cllr Andrew Jenner

Sutton’s award-winning waste and street cleaning services continue to set high standards.

The borough received the Keep Britain Tidy Outstanding Service Award in March this year, while maintaining an exceptional 99.99% collection success rate across 13.5 million annual collections.

Fly-tipping reports have fallen by 25%, littering reports by 65%, and contamination at kerbside properties has been reduced by 97%.

We were also nominated in the Net Zero category at the recent Local Government Chronicle Awards for our Green Enterprise Partnership - which has helped over 250 local businesses cut their carbon emissions AND save money on their energy bills at the same time.

All of this, combined with the recent consultation launch of our greenest ever Local Plan (which gives many green spaces and parks new protections), shows our dedication to keeping Sutton a green, clean and tidy borough for all to enjoy for generations to come.