South West Water is hosting a community event in Torquay this week to share its business plan with customers and demonstrate how the company is investing across the region.
Taking place this Friday (12 January), the event will give the public a chance to meet with experts from South West Water, discuss the company’s performance and explore its plans for the future.
The event will be held in a market-stall setup where customers can chat with different subject matter experts from South West Water about their specific focus areas, such as environmental improvements, drinking water resources and tackling network blockages.
The water company will also be talking about its latest five-year business plan, The Right Deal for Right Now. The plan proposes £2.8 billion of investment and will also create over 2,000 jobs across the region and during the event the company will focus on the specific investments planned for Torquay and its surrounding areas.
Developed in collaboration with over 30,000 customers and 1,000 stakeholders, the wider company plan for 2025-2030 focuses on four key priorities:
- Investing in Water Quality and Water Resilience
- Tackling Storm Overflows and Pollution
- Delivering for Customers and Addressing Affordability
- Reaching Net Zero and Enhancing Environmental Gains
South West Water has already earmarked £27 million of investment in Torbay by March 2030 to help reduce the risk of environmental impact from its sewerage network and contribute towards improving bathing water quality across the Bay, including Goodrington and Paignton beaches with the aim to have them classified as ‘excellent’, as assessed by the Environment Agency. This is on top of the current £600,000 investment as part of WaterFit.
Having welcomed South West Water’s open engagement with communities, Kevin Foster MP plans to attend the Torquay drop-in session in person on Friday.
Kevin Foster, Member of Parliament for Torbay, said: “Our bay already has some of the best water quality and beaches in Europe, so this event will be a welcome chance for residents to find out more about how the water system currently works and plans to deliver further improvements to water quality in our area. Having engaged with South West Water over the last year I was delighted to see them come forward with their plan to deliver £27m of investment and the clear pledge to get Paignton Sands and Goodrington to a consistent ‘excellent’ by the end of the decade.”
Laura Flowerdew, Chief Customer and Digital Officer at South West Water, said: “Our community event in Sidmouth at the end of last year provided a fantastic opportunity to listen to the local community and engage with them on our plans for investment in the area. We are excited to be heading to the next location, allowing the Torquay community to come and talk to our team in person about our plans and our performance, and to provide them with the chance to voice their views.
“We are working hard to make improvements across our networks and want to work closely with the local communities and customers to understand their priorities.”
The community drop-in session will take place from 1pm-5pm at the Princess Theatre, Torquay, TQ2 5EZ, on Friday 12 January. Attendees can pre-register here: Our roadshows | Get involved | South West Water
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