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Anger as water bills in flats rise 300 per cent By Andy Tong andy@timesoftonbridge.co.uk
Carvery
RESIDENTS of an apartment block in the centre of town are up in arms after seeing their water bills increase by more than 300 per cent. The billing contractor Evinox said the hike at Ashby’s Point in Walter’s Farm Road is because of a faulty meter and prices not being updated. The unit rate change has risen from £0.7055 per day to £2.98 for a three-bedroom property. The couldl mean monthly increases form nearly £23 to £90.
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Students ‘go on strike’ for climate emergency
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Wednesday September 18 | 2019
PUPILS from across Tonbridge will leave school early and march up the High Street on Friday [September 20] to raise awareness of climate change. The schoolchildren are staging a ‘Climate Strike’ to coincide with similar actions by young people all over the world. Students are being encouraged to meet at the railway station at 3.15pm, in order to avoid missing a significant part of the school day. There will be speeches at around 3.40pm, after which strikers with drums and placards will march up the High Street and assemble at the Big Bridge at 4.30pm. Young people from The Judd School held a similar strike there in February, while there were also protests by pupils
outside Sussex Road Primary School. Meanwhile environmental activists Extinction Rebellion [XR] are staging their first meeting in the town tonight [Wednesday].
Inaugural The new group is holding a free public talk upstairs at The Beer Seller Pub in the High Street from 7pm, entitled Climate Change: Heading for Extinction and What You Can Do About It. The inaugural event is part of a nationwide campaign, and local organiser Ruth Connelly said: “The purpose of the talk is to give everyone
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The occupiers of the flats believe that ongoing problems with leaks and the structure itself may account for higher volumes being used than normal. Town and Country Housing Group, which manages the 92 apartments of which 40 per cent are affordable housing, is investigating the issue. After working with South East Water, Town and Country revealed that the meter had been recording no water usage so bills had only shown the standing charge. It has called on Evinox, a company based in Chessington, Surrey, to stop trying to collect the payments until the matter has been resolved. Evinox wrote to residents saying: “We appreciate that the new charges are a substantial increase in prices. This is due to several reasons. “The prices have not been reviewed for several years and … a faulty meter was previously giving incorrect readings that were underestimating the amount of water being used. “This has now been replaced and the correct readings indicate a much larger volume of water being used.” Town and Country issued a statement
saying: “Although the new meter should now be recording the correct water usage, we acknowledge that the reviewed figure seems higher than the UK average and we will look into the matter further. “We have written to Evinox to pause the collection of money until we are satisfied that the water usage reading is correct. We will take the next few weeks to review this.” But a week later [September 12] it said: “Usage is in line with [South East Water’s] normal operating parameters (quoted 0.6 cubic meter per unit per
‘The additional water charges to residents in Ashby’s Point clearly came as a shock to all’ Cllr Matt Boughton day). We have checked this with the actual bill.” One resident, Jenny Lewis, said: “They say 0.68 cubic metres per day for each unit is normal. “I do accept that our payments need to increase, what we’re disputing is that we use that much water. “That’s about the same as a house with seven occupants, and the flats are mostly only two bedrooms.” Residents recently discovered they had individual meters and Mrs Lewis said: “We’ve been sharing our meter readings and we’re averaging about 0.25 per day – that’s about the national average, and of course nowhere near what they’re saying.” She added: “We’ve had so many leaks in the building now, we suspect that there really is that much water coming
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