MINISTERS were last night accused of "softening up" Scottish consumers for hefty price rises to pay for major improvements in Scotland’s water system.
The Scottish Executive is spending £130,000 on telephone polling and focus groups as part of a consultation process which will be used to draw up plans for a series of projects aimed at updating Scotland’s creaking water network.
Ministers have d
efended the move, saying it is essential in order to involve the public in a series of projects which will cost billions of pounds. Plans for major upgrades to Scotland’s water and sewage will be announced this year.
Scottish Water is already working on its biggest ever programme to renew the nation’s water supply.
The plans will cost £1.8bn and involve the laying or replacement of 1,600 miles of pipes - enough to stretch from Edinburgh to Bucharest.
The telephone poll involves 3,000 Scots being called and asked to answer a number of questions about how satisfied they are with their water service and what concerns they have about water safety and quality. The questioning also includes queries about how prepared the respondent would be to pay extra in order to speed up improvements to the water network.
The poll is being organised by the Scottish Executive, rather than Scottish Water, the agency which manages the water system. The findings of the study will be released, with the action plan, in autumn.
Insiders in the water industry blame decades of underspending for the poor state of the Scottish water network.
Much of the infrastructure dates from the Victorian era or the early 20th century, and little work was carried out until recently.
A water industry insider said: "The questions seem very much aimed at seeing how willing the public are too pay a lot more to have the water network improved. They are right that a lot needs to be done. It’s just a question of how much people are willing to pay."
Opposition groups last night criticised the move, calling it a "waste of money" and claimed that ministers wanted to use the findings of the poll to justify future price rises to pay for works.
Alex Johnstone, the Scottish Tory water spokesman, said: "There can be no doubt that this is a softening-up exercise.
"I don’t think that the argument about consultation is really all that valid. The people who know most about what needs to be done to the water network are experts on the water network.
"People just want their water to be safe, reliable, and reasonably priced. I can see ministers using the findings of the poll to justify price rises.
"The real answer to the problems faced by our water system is to have a privatised mutualised company, which could borrow and divert profits into a better service."
Fergus Ewing, the SNP finance spokesman, said: "This is an appalling waste of money from an Executive which doesn’t seem to know what to do with all its money.
"They could save the money from this polling and put some of it into the budget for improving the water supply. What do they expect people to say? That they don’t think that a safe, clean, and reliable water supply is important?"
But a Scottish Executive spokesman last night defended the consultation.
He said: "Consultations are an important part of the development of public policy. We are also consulting with the industry and with experts, but there is an important place for the views of the public. The next phase of work is renewing Scotland’s water and it is only proper to involve the public."
The spokesman added: "Polling and public consultation are more important under devolution because we do not have a second chamber such as the House of Lords. That is why we have to make sure we consult widely."
•mmacleod@scotlandonsunday.com
