Anger as King's Lynn residents in the Woottons claim they were misled over Anglian Water compensation
Hundreds of people in the Woottons area believe they have not been compensated enough after a water shortage during the recent heatwave.
Residents have been left furious after they say they were misled over how much money they would receive from Anglian Water after a burst main left them without any water for around three days in mid-July.
Anglian Water sent a letter out to those left without water in the Woottons and other areas of Lynn saying they would receive £150 in compensation if they were left without water for more than 24 hours.
However, residents claim only 781 homes out of 5,972 left without water have received a £150 bank transfer.
The rest of the homes received £30, which was the amount to be given to those who were left without water for 12 hours.
However, some of the residents who were compensated £30 say they had only a trickle of water over the three day period.
A petition has been started by Cllr Rob Colwell in hopes of Anglian Water compensating all households with £150, which has so far been signed by more than 600 people.
The burst pipe impacted water supply to 6,000 homes in Reffley, North Wootton, South Wootton and Gaywood.
“I am calling for every single one of the nearly 6,000 properties to be treated equally and get the full compensation they deserve,” said Cllr Colwell.
With a red weather alert declared that weekend, communities pulled together to help those without water, with the likes of Lynnsport opening up its shower facilities.
Cllr Colwell has suggested one way that Anglian Water can give back to the local community.
“A huge gesture to the local community would be a full restoration of the Gaywood River, a rare chalk stream that is in a terrible state.
“It runs through the heart of the town. Over-abstraction and pollution incidents have badly hit the river quality.”
In a statement, Anglian Water said: “We remain incredibly sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers in King’s Lynn, who were without water recently due to a burst water main. We know it couldn’t have happened at a worse time during the hot weather.
“We already compensate customers above the agreed water industry standard to ensure we provide an appropriate level of compensation should they experience a prolonged interruption to their water supply.
“The amount each customer will receive is based on a detailed, technical assessment of how the interruption impacted each household. The assessment involves analysis of a number of different sources of information, including pressure levels, monitors that measure water flow in our pipes, and from our treatment works across King’s Lynn, as well as what our engineers recorded on the ground over that weekend.
“To reiterate, this was an incredibly complex incident which has meant a number of elements have needed to be incorporated into our systems to ensure we are providing the correct information and fair compensation to our customers.”
