London councils fined Thames Water more than £12m for late or badly managed roadworks over a five-year period, according to data obtained by the Green Party.

Andrée Frieze, the Green Party leader of the opposition at Richmond council, told the paper that she had requested the information under freedom of information laws because of delays in the utility firm fixing burst pipes in her ward.

She said: ‘It seems that there has been a serious lack of investment in the infrastructure since this private company took over.

‘If Thames Water had been more concerned with improving its infrastructure in a timely manner, rather than handing out profits to shareholders, then we may not be seeing so much disruption caused by burst pipes and sinkholes now.’

A Thames Water spokesperson said: ‘We're sorry for when our roadworks cause disruption and delays to customers and motorists. We always aim to work collaboratively with councils to minimise disruption.

‘We’re repairing over 1,300 leaks per week – that’s one leak every 7.5 minutes - whether visible or below ground. We have over 480 people working to fix leaks with activity taking place 7 days a week and over 400 people working round the clock and mainly overnight to detect leaks not yet appearing at ground level.

‘We’ve recently committed an additional £700m to improve water supplies. In London, we’re replacing 70 miles of our leakiest water mains pipes, having met additional requirements set out by our industry regulator.’

Last month the BBC reported that Hertfordshire County Council issued more than 4,000 fixed penalty notices to utility and telecoms companies in the year 2022-23 for working without a permit or not sticking to conditions.

This article was originally published by Transport Network.

Sign up here to receive our free daily news and jobs bulletin.