Why is United Utilities not releasing essential data on sewage dumping?

Dear readers — it’s Monday again. A warm welcome to this week’s briefing, starring United Utilities chief executive Louise Beardmore, who was questioned by MPs last week about her £690,000-a-year salary (eight times that of the Prime Minister, by the way). Quick spoiler: Beardmore said “Yes, you’re correct in terms of those amounts”. We’ve also got cameos from Sacha Lord (who has kindly promised to repay the £400,000 grant he obtained from the Arts Council) and his pal Andy Burnham, as well as revelations about how much social housing has been built in Manchester in the last five years. Another spoiler: not very many!

Over the weekend, we published James Gilmour’s detailed essay exploring how Trafford Park, the world’s first industrial estate, became an afterthought in the city region’s planning efforts. We also published a thoughtful piece by Jack about the locksmith who keeps the John Rylands Library’s most sacred texts safe in their cabinets, and a dispatch from 6.30am, Wednesday morning, when removal vans and bailiffs arrived at St Peter’s Square to evict those living in the tents that have lined the porticoes of the Town Hall.

This week, we’re finally publishing our story about the five-year battle between a tenant farming family and Bolton Council, who want to build social housing on the site where the family has lived for 300 years, plus, an inside look at why your local council is still making cuts in the post-Tory austerity era. Then, this weekend, Ophira will take readers on a tour of the city’s anti-skate architecture and DIY skate parks on wasteland earmarked for development. 

For those who haven’t read our subscriber-only investigation into the University of Greater Manchester, our latest podcast episode sees our hosts Mollie and Joshi delve into our reporting and ask: who will hold the institution accountable?

Greater Manchester: a long tradition of community business

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🌤️ This week’s weather

Tuesday 🌤️ Early mist and low cloud will lift to leave a dry and bright day. 12°C.

Wednesday 🌤️ Dry and breezy with patchy cloud cover and pleasant spells of sunshine. 14°C.

Thursday ☀️ Very mild and breezy with long spells of sunshine. 16°C.

Friday 🌦️ Cloudier with showers at times. Still feeling mild. 14°C.

Weekend ⛅️ Remaining mostly dry and feeling pleasantly mild.

We get our weekly forecast from Manchester Weather.

Your briefing

📃 More fallout from The Mill’s investigation into shady dealings at the University of Greater Manchester (as it insists on calling itself). Big Four accounting firm PwC will lead an “independent investigation” into the university, concerning “recent allegations reported in the press relating to the conduct and affairs of senior personnel working for or, on behalf of, the University”. Two weeks ago, our reporting revealed that two senior university executives — Joseph Wheeler and Paul Starkey — tried to divert hundreds of thousands of pounds in tuition fees from a key university partner into the private company RSM (which is owned by Wheeler). We passed the details of our story to Greater Manchester Police, who confirmed they were “liaising with our fraud team as to next steps”, and local MP Phil Brickell, who wrote to the education secretary and the government’s anti-corruption lead asking for a meeting “at your earliest convenience to discuss these matters”. The university confirmed that “the investigation will be overseen by the university’s audit committee” but did not release the terms of reference that will govern PwC’s investigation, nor state whether the vice chancellor George Holmes has input on these terms, formally or informally. Want to tell us more about this investigation? Reach out to Mollie.

💦 “Transparency is extremely important,” declared Louise Beardmore, chief executive of United Utilities, at a government inquiry last Wednesday — but is United Utilities, the water company that has a monopoly on the North West of England and has the highest sewage dumping rates in the country, really committed to being transparent? According to Jamie Woodward, a professor of geography at the University of Manchester, the short answer to that question is very short indeed: no. Woodward says that while water companies like United Utilities have to meet targets to reduce the frequency of sewage dumping, they are not required by the regulator to release data on the volume of each sewage spill. This essentially means that while United Utilities could be dumping untreated sewage in our waterways less frequently than in previous years, each discharge could be extremely high in volume. “Until we have volume data we really don’t know the scale of damage they’re inflicting,” Woodward says. A United Utilities spokesperson, said: “We are committed to providing as much information to people as possible on our storm overflow performance, it’s why we have a live storm overflow map so people can check their local area and further data is also regularly published on our website.” But while we don’t know exactly how much sewage is landing in our waterways, we can at least be assured that Beardmore is well paid. Under questioning by MPs, she defended her salary of £690,000, plus last year’s bonus of £420,000, and did not deny the water industry has an issue with excessive remuneration. Remember: from April, United Utilities is raising water bills by 32% over the next five years to reduce pollution incidents and improve infrastructure. Want to pass us some information about United Utilities? Get in touch.

Update (04/2/2025): In the original version of this article, we did not include a response from United Utilities, for which we apologise. This has now been included in the piece.

🗣️ Also on Wednesday, Andy Burnham told the GMCA’s scrutiny committee that he accepted Sacha Lord’s resignation on 29 January “hugely reluctantly” and made a long speech praising Lord for his efforts as night time economy advisor. “He made a massive contribution to a sector of our world that really didn’t have a voice in Greater Manchester before he came in and provided one, and a very effective one indeed,” Burnham said. Our reporting revealed that Sacha Lord received £400,000 of public money from the Arts Council at the height of the pandemic, as the result of an application that made highly misleading claims about the nature of his business. The Arts Council concluded its investigation last month, and announced that it would be seeking to recover the grant that was awarded. However, the GMCA has still not published the findings of its own investigation — which Burnham told the scrutiny committee concluded that “there was nothing improper and no misuse of funds” — citing confidentiality and GDPR issues. Lib Dem councillor Shaun Ennis asked about accountability and governance measures surrounding mayoral advisors, even those who are not remunerated, and Burnham said he was “open to taking recommendations from this committee as to how that can be strengthened”.

📰 And then on Friday, at a breakfast event hosted by law firm Slater Heelis, Sacha Lord promised that the £400,000 grant awarded by the Arts Council to his security company, Primary Events Solutions will be paid back. Lord denied he knowingly misled the Arts Council but admitted there were “mistakes” in the application.

🏡 Just 12% of the 22,081 new homes that were built in Manchester between January 2019 and December 2024 were classed as affordable housing, according to new figures from Manchester City Council obtained by The Mill via Freedom of Information request. The 2,739 affordable homes that were built in this five-year period include social housing, affordable rent, shared ownership schemes and rent to buy, and only 778 were classed as social housing. Almost 18,000 households are on the waiting list for social housing in Manchester, according to a 2024 post by the campaign group Social Homes 4 Manchester.

Quick hits

🪡 There are plenty of free events in Greater Manchester this week aimed at helping those who want to learn how to fix their own clothing and household items. Surveys by the campaign group Recycle for Greater Manchester found that 60% of residents are worried about the cost of fixing their own items, while more than 70% of residents would like to repair their belongings themselves, but don’t know how.

🏛️ Oldham Council and Rochdale Council will both receive £20 million from the government’s Levelling Up fund. Oldham Council says it will use the funds to “supercharge” regeneration and build more affordable housing; Rochdale plans to deliver 200 homes by the railway station and create a youth arts centre and local craft workshops in empty town centre units.

🎭 Oldham Coliseum will be run under a co-operative model, funded by income from rents in vacant retail units that the council is planning to bring back into use. The Coliseum is expected to reopen in its original Fairbottom Street building in time for Panto season.

💰 Manchester City Council has announced a 4.99% council tax rise in the coming 2025/26 financial year, in order to fund adult social care and balance the budget, which Green Party leader Anastasia Wiest says has been hit hard by the government’s decision to increase employer National Insurance contributions.

🏗️ Also in Manchester City Council news: Albert Square and the Town Hall are expected to be back in use by this winter, just in time for festive season.

🚴 The Chorlton to Manchester cycleway will be getting CCTV cameras to deter motorists from attempting to park on the cycle lanes.

Home of the week 

For £240,000 you can get yourself a three-bedroomed, one-gardened property on the edge of Boggart Hole Clough.

Our favourite reads

‘Photography is therapy for me’: Martin Parr on humour, holidaying and life behind the lens — The Guardian

We enjoyed this profile of photographer Martin Parr, whose portfolio especially reflects the quirks of British life, particularly its seaside towns: ice cream melting on the pavement, questionable swimwear, general shabbiness. Parr, 72, was described as “utterly lazy and inattentive” by his art teacher (that description is now the title of his memoir) and, like many of us who found ourselves in clearing after bombing on their A-levels, he found sanctuary at Manchester Polytechnic. There, he met his wife and other photographers who inspired him in his craft. “I often reflect on this, when I think back on my life,” he tells Miranda Sawyer. “What would have happened if I hadn’t gone to Manchester?”

Manchester United is tackling the wrong problem — The Financial Times

“Sir Jim Ratcliffe knows how to turn around a struggling industrial business,” writes the FT’s chief data reporter John Burn-Murdoch. “But does he know how to turn around a struggling football club? The evidence increasingly suggests not.” Burn-Murdoch gives Manchester United’s flailing performance the data treatment, finding that no similar club has seen as steep a drop in performance, or has seen more marquee signings fail too (not that you’d need the data treatment to figure that much out).

A lonely death on New Year’s Day — The Tribune

At our sister paper in Sheffield, The Tribune, Victoria Munro investigates the death of Veronica Crawford. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Crawford was referred to Green Bridge Community Housing, a company that receives millions per year from the local council to care for people like Crawford. If any of this sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve read The Mill’s reporting on exempt accommodation in Greater Manchester, a type of housing intended to support the most vulnerable in society. You can read our latest story on the topic here: Exclusive: How did a semi in Harpurhey sell for £1.8m?

Our to do list

Tuesday

🥞 For the devout Christians among our readership wishing to celebrate the final day of Shrovetide in style, the Fairfield Social Club are serving up two courses of crêpes – one savoury, one sweet – for a fairly reasonable £12.

📚 Esteemed Barnsley-born poet Andrew McMillan has turned his attention to longform fiction, and will be chatting about his debut novel Pity over at Queer Lit — a book signing is on the cards but not guaranteed.

Wednesday

🪛 Repair sessions are coming to Mossley’s The Vale both this Wednesday and next. There will be experts on site to give you the tools, both literally and figuratively, to mend your various broken-down bits and bobs, for free.

🗞️ Michael Herbert is heading to Tameside to discuss the legacy of Madeline Linford — creator of the Women’s Page in the Manchester Guardian, who paved the way for women in journalism. More info here.

Thursday

🏢Modernist Society co-founder Eddy Rhead will be giving a talk on Manchester as the original modern city over at the Anthony Burgess Foundation. Tickets cost £15.

🪩 Brand new magazine Full Throttle will be launching in style at Aatma (the place above the Peer Hat), with a night of photography, music and chaos, from 7 ’til late. Tickets cost £5.