East Lancs churches could 'close over water bills'

3:20pm Sunday 20th July 2008

Comments (4)   Have your say »

By Sally Henfield »

A NUMBER of East Lancashire churches could be forced to close by proposed water bill rises of up to 1300 per cent, according to an MP.

Greg Pope, MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden, urged water bosses to scrap plans to class churches as businesses when calculating their bills.

Mr Pope said churches could have to abandon their traditional community places of worship -or close altogether - under United Utilities' proposed method of charging.

The firm is to introduce a new billing system for non-household customers for surface water and highways drainage.

Previously these properties have paid a fixed amount, based on the buidling's rateable value.

Under the new system, the charge would be based instead on the drained area occupied by a property and its site.

The changes, due to phased in between now and 2011, will affect 180,000 customers - including churches.

Critics say that because of the size of the land churches occupy some could see bills rise by 1300 per cent.

Mr Pope said: "This seems totally unfair. Churches are usually large buildings.

"Yet they use next to nothing when it comes to water, apart from the occasional baptism.

"This could lead to quite a few of them having to close. I have written to the chief executive of united Utilities and asked him to rethink this scheme."

A spokesman for the Blackburn Diocese said: "These are both unwarranted and unfair charges on parishes who represent the local community.

“We have formed a coalition with the dioceses of Liverpool, Manchester, Chester and Carlisle to oppose the charges.

"Our parishes are already under financial pressure and we appreciate the help of Mr Pope in our campaign."

United Utilities has offered to meet with the MP to discuss the issue.

The company, which serves seven million customers, stresses it would make no financial gain from these changes.

Brian Hurd, customer service director, said: "The aim is not to increase our revenue but to provide a system which better reflects the costs involved.

"This will mean that individual customers will see either increases or decreases in these charges.

"Rateable value was the most common method we have used up to now to assess charges.

"Although this does take account of property size, it is also influenced by a property's location and this can lead to many inconsistencies in charges for surface water drainage."