JULIA IN CALL FOR ACTION ON SOUTH WEST WATER BILLS

3.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 16th Jun 2009

Falmouth and Camborne MP Julia Goldsworthy urged the government to commit to tackling high water bills, in a Commons debate on the impact of the recession on rural communities.

She urged the new environment minister Jim Fitzpatrick to take action to tackle all the issues that create and perpetuate rural poverty - including the high cost of water bills in the South West.

In the debate Julia Goldsworthy urged the minister to "…ensure that households do not spend a disproportionate amount of their income just on paying their water bills."

Commenting, Julia said:

"Since privatisation by the Conservatives in the 1980s people in the South West have faced the highest water bills in the country. It cannot be right for 3% of the population - with some of the lowest incomes in the country - to have to meet the cost of maintaining 30% of the coastline.

"The government must give long overdue recognition to this issue, which in the South West is as significant as fuel poverty, and ensure that measures are put in place to tackle this problem.

"The Walker Review is a chance to get this ball rolling and the government must ensure that its recommendations are acted upon - it must not be allowed to gather dust on a shelf."