Churches face crippling new water charges
Pastor Dale Morgan
Churches face crippling new water charges*
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones
Last Updated: 7:53PM BST 07/06/2008
Churches face crippling new water charges that could cost up to
£15 million a year in total and raise some bills by as much as 1,300 per
cent.
Several water companies have scrapped traditional discounts for churches
and are now charging the full commercial rate. The additional charges
relate not to tap water supply but to the drainage of rainwater that
runs off hard surfaces such as church roofs and car parks into main drains.
Some clergy claim the new bills are almost as much as their total
budgets for the year. A number of churchwardens have resigned, defeated
by the pressure of trying to balance the budgets, while some churches
say they cannot and will not pay.
The higher bills come as growing numbers of churches are facing closure,
because dwindling congregations mean they cannot meet their running
costs. The Sunday Telegraph's Save Our Churches campaign is calling for
initiatives to allow churches to remain as vital assets to their
communities.
More than 6,500 people have signed up to our campaign. Supporters
include the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams; Cardinal Cormac
Murphy-O'Connor, leader of Britain's Roman Catholics; the actress
Prunella Scales; and Sir John Mortimer, the writer.
Church leaders are lobbying Ofwat, the water industry regulator, and the
Government to step in, while a petition to Downing Street calling for
the bills to be scrapped has been signed by almost 5,000 people.
The Church of England will raise the issue at its General Synod next
month, but the charges are affecting all denominations in England and
Wales. In Scotland, however, churches, along with small charities and
voluntary organisations, are exempt from water charges for the next six
years.
Martin Dales, the synod member who tabled the motion calling for the
churches' exemption to be restored, said: "This is putting an
intolerable burden on many smaller churches and poorer parishes in
inner-city areas." He said the water companies had abandoned their
obligations, set out in 2000 when the Government said it would be
"inappropriate to charge all non-household customers as if they were
businesses".
The companies say the new system means domestic and business customers
are no longer subsidising churches. United Utilities, Yorkshire Water,
Severn Trent and Northumbrian Water have introduced the charges, and it
is feared others will follow.
Ofwat insists that the new regime is fair.