Mancot: Willow Park residents launch Senedd petition over ‘scandalous’ water costs

Residents of a mobile home site in Flintshire have launched a Senedd petition urging the Welsh Government to grant park home residents the legal right to have individual water meters installed.

They argue the current billing system is unfair and has left them paying well above the national average.

Willow Park in Mancot consists of 159 homes, many occupied by retirees on fixed incomes.

Despite having little outdoor space and modest water usage, residents have been charged over £68 per month—far exceeding the national average of £39.42.

The high costs stem from the fact that the site operates on a single water meter, with the total bill divided equally among all homes, regardless of individual usage.

Flintshire County Councillor Sam Swash (Hawarden & Mancot, who represents Willow Park and submitted the Senedd petition, said the current system leaves residents unfairly burdened.

“This system gives site owners absolutely no incentive to fix water leaks, leaving residents to bear the cost of wasted water,” he said.

In an effort to highlight the extent of the issue, more than 40 residents installed private water meters in their homes and monitored their usage over six months.

Their data showed they should be paying an average of just £16 per month—a fraction of their current charges.

Additional information from Welsh Water suggests over 5 million gallons of water are being lost every year due to leaks on the site.

Kenneth Pierce, Chairman of the Willow Park Residents’ Association, explained: “The data we’ve collected from Welsh Water shows vast amounts of water passing through the main meter throughout the night, when residents are asleep. To use the amount of water registered at its peak over the last two years, all 159 homes on the site would have had to flush their toilet 58 times per night. Clearly, this is due to major leaks, and residents are being charged for it.”

Despite repeated appeals, no action has been taken. Welsh Water has insisted that the issue is a private matter between the site owner and residents, while the Welsh Government has yet to intervene.

In response, residents have launched a petition calling for a legal right to individual water meters, which they believe would ensure fairer billing and encourage site owners to maintain infrastructure properly.

Cllr Swash said: “This is both a financial and environmental scandal. Residents are being forced to pay for water they aren’t using. Giving park home residents the right to a water meter would bring them in line with most homeowners across Wales. It would ensure fair billing, incentivise site owners to maintain infrastructure, and reduce the huge environmental damage caused by vast quantities of leaking water.”

While the online petition currently displays a small number of signatures, organisers say they have collected many more through physical paper petitions.

They are confident they will soon reach the 250-signature threshold required for the Senedd Petitions Committee to consider the issue for debate.

The petition is available at: https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/246506