This petition calls on local Councillors in Kent and Sussex to refuse to determine major housing applications until there is credible action to address water supply issues.

Last winter, more than 30,000 homes across Kent and Sussex had no water. This summer many families were forced to live on bottled water for several days.  Despite paying record water bills we live with our fourth hosepipe ban in five years.  The water company tells us that the infrastructure is operating at the limit, and that we have to conserve water just to ensure the supplies will last.

Every week, councils are told to approve thousands more homes, without anyone being allowed to ask the one question that matters: is there sufficient water to supply them?

There isn't. We know because the water company said so. South East Water told one Kent council, in writing, that it can supply just 6,318 of the 19,620 homes the government requires it to plan for. That is the only borough that has ever been given a number. Everywhere else, nobody even knows what the supply gap is.

The system has been designed to silence the voice of ordinary people.  It is a system built so that questions on water supply cannot be asked when new housing is proposed.

Water companies have no formal say on planning applications, and they are legally required to connect every home that gets permission, whether the water exists or not.

So we are asking our councillors to say "enough is enough" and to take action that will force the Government to act on our concerns.

We call on all Councillors in Kent and Sussex to withdraw from deciding major housing applications until the water supply is made secure.  We ask Councillors to withdraw only from deciding applications for more than 10 homes - that means they stay on committees, and keep deciding all other business.

"Secure Water Supply" means four things, all of which the government can deliver immediately:

1) Water companies become statutory consultees on planning applications, able to object where the development is in an area where supply is stressed
2) Right of councils to delay permission until supply is confirmed. Councils permit only the homes the water company confirms in writing it can serve.
3) The open investigations into water supply issues are concluded, and the resulting resilience work is fully funded, programmed and published with completion dates.
4) An independent audit of supply headroom is published for every district in Kent and Sussex, every year.

This is not a campaign against housing.  It is a campaign that says we must bring common sense back to the decision process.  And that the supply failures that Kent and Sussex families are suffering on a monthly basis must be addressed before more houses are built.

If you live, work or pay a water bill in Kent or Sussex, please add your name, then send this petition to your own councillor.

If your Councillor is nervous about taking action on this matter, remind them that they are doing nothing more or less than taking strike action in protest at the current situation.  This country has a proud history of protest and many positive changes in our laws have resulted directly from protest action.  Also remind them that the polite letters they write have so far failed to change the behaviour of a Government that appears determined to impose unsustainable housing targets irrespective of the damage to our water supply that this will cause in Kent and Sussex.

Read more about the issue at: https://www.tapsbeforetargets.com/