David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, joined other regional leaders on a meeting with Yorkshire Water Chair Vanda Murray OBE yesterday (28 October 2025).
Vanda Murray, Chair of Yorkshire Water said:
I welcomed the opportunity to meet with Yorkshire’s Mayors and representatives of the Yorkshire Leaders’ Board to set out the actions we’ve taken following their initial letter to us about the executive fees funded from our holding company, Kelda.
It was a productive meeting and I’m glad we agreed on how we can work together more closely in the future. We acknowledge that we could’ve been more transparent about the value of these payments, and we hope the commitments we’ve made to improve our reporting and openness will help to rebuild trust.
We have improved our service in most areas over recent years, but we know we need to do more. We have embarked on the biggest five-year investment programme in our history which will improve our performance and deliver better outcomes for customers, communities, and the environment.
Over the next five years, we’re investing around £3.2m every day to upgrade our infrastructure so we can improve service, reduce pollution, and modernise Yorkshire’s water network.
Background
- Yorkshire Water have now committed to disclosing the value of any Kelda related payments for our CEO and CFO as part of Yorkshire Water’s accounts in future
- Aligning their reporting approach on executive pay with the standards currently required from FTSE100 companies and other UK-listed firms
- Enhancing performance reporting, so that progress can be tracked more easily
- Expanding the direct engagement between their Board members and elected representatives.
David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said:
Yorkshire Water haven’t gone far enough to improve standards and reduce pollution, they are amongst the worst performing water companies in the country. This is not good enough.
This was the start of regular engagements on behalf of the residents we represent to ensure Yorkshire Water is more transparent in how they are working to improve services for residents.
It’s time for Yorkshire Water to get their head out of the sand and prove they are actually committed to improvements, transparency and fairness for rate payers.
