Kent County Council (KCC) is establishing a new strategic partnership to improve oversight and accountability of the county's water supply, following a series of outages that have left residents and businesses without water for days at a time.
The Kent Water Resilience Partnership, to be chaired by KCC leader Linden Kemkaran, will bring together water companies, local authorities, regulators and key partners to focus on long-term planning, infrastructure investment, water quality and supply resilience.
The move follows a Short-Focused Inquiry by KCC's Scrutiny Committee, which identified significant gaps in resilience, coordination and accountability across the local water system.
Kemkaran said responsibility for water in Kent was ‘too fragmented’ with no single forum overseeing the whole system, adding that residents and businesses ‘deserve to know what is happening and what is being done about it.’
She acknowledged the council has no direct powers over water companies or regulators but said KCC had a responsibility to ‘stand up for Kent’ and ensure clear public visibility of how issues are being addressed.
