THE Government has refused to pull the plug on South West Water after following Cornwall Council’s historic vote of no confidence in the company.

Councillors voted to petition the Government and Ofwat to remove the water company from the management of the Cornish water and waste water systems and transfer the ownership to a public service due to concerns local beaches and waterways have been repeatedly polluted by sewage spills.

But the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs states there is a “high bar” for South West Water to be placed into a Special Administration as the law states it can only be initiated if the company becomes insolvent or on performance grounds.

The department says tackling sewage discharges is a priority and that the government is working with all water sector regulators to carefully monitor the performance of all water companies.

The Cornwall Council vote of no confidence follows a campaign led by Dowr Glan, whose name, means ‘Clean Water’ in Cornish, which has been backed 60 Cornish town and parish councils.The Ministerial Contact Unit, in a letter to Newquay Town Council, which backed the campaign, said: “The government expects all water companies to deliver reliable services for customers and the environment. Increased transparency and accountability in the sector are revealing the full picture of company underperformance. The sector must now step up to deliver improvements for the benefit of customers and the environment.

“We expect regulators to hold water companies to account against their statutory duties and performance commitments and they have a range of regulatory tools available where companies fail to meet the standards expected of them. We will not look the other way while companies routinely fail to meet agreed standards. Water companies must take seriously their role in meeting the public and regulators expectations.

“Tough new powers introduced by the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 requires water companies to publish annual Pollution Incident Reduction Plans by 1 April each year. These will drive specific action to tackle incidents that can have a devastating effect on people, communities and the environment. The first plans are with the EA now for scrutiny. Failure to publish compliant plans will be a criminal offence for both companies and their chief executives.

“To deliver on the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, we are expecting £60 billion of investment across England by 2050. This should result in a reduction of over 300,000 spills from storm overflows per year by 2050 and ensure that no storm overflow is permitted to spill more than 10 times per year on average by 2050.

“The law states that Special Administration can only be initiated if the company becomes insolvent or on performance grounds, requiring such a serious breach of principal statutory duties or of an enforcement order such that it is inappropriate for the company to retain its licence. The government is working with all water sector regulators to carefully monitor the performance of all water companies.

“The government was elected with a clear mandate to clean our rivers, lakes and seas and has already taken swift action including through the Water (Special Measures) Act to improve transparency and accountability across the water industry. This will be built on by the upcoming Clean Water Bill which will deliver on this promise with bold action to deliver fundamental, long-term reform.

“This will include stronger enforcement powers to send a clear signal that poor performance will not be tolerated or rewarded, and a new Performance Improvement Regime designed to prevent companies falling into a cycle of decline.”