Is rain tax coming to Cornwall?
If you haven’t heard about ‘rain tax’, it refers to the new law being ushered in by Ofwat, which will force organisations to pay for the cost of draining water into public sewers according to their surface area. As you can imagine, there are numerous institutions for whom large surface areas are the norm, namely churches, schools, and sports centres – something we have a lot of in Cornwall.
As these are also institutions which are not known for making large profits, the plan has been greeted with firm opposition across the entire length of the country.
According to The Herald in Plymouth, churches have seen bills “rocket from £80 to £800” and sports and social clubs are “facing increases of about 400%” in areas where it has already come in.
South West Water has yet to change the way it charges for surface water drainage, but is looking to move over to the new system “in the near future”.
This table shows typical costs.
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A protest group has been set up at: www.dontdrainus.org
