Disconnector cannot remember anything quite like this piece of poetic justice. Or maybe it's an example of birds coming home to roost. Whatever, the sight last week of water regulator Philip Fletcher caught bang to rights was priceless.
As readers of this august journal know, there is a spat going on at present over drainage charges, which some water companies have introduced. The new regime comes with the blessing of the water regulator. However, the new charges have left some community groups and churches with very much bigger bills. Cue a huge outcry, questions in Parliament, campaigns, online petitions and so forth.
Now, the issue came up at the most recent meeting of the Church of England's governing body, the General Synod. And it happens that our Philip is a member of the Synod, thanks to his role as a member of the Archbishop's Council. He is also a church­warden at a south London church.
During the debate, the Ofwat chair conceded that had Thames Water decided to bring in the new charging regime, as some other water companies had done, his church would have struggled to pay the new bill. It currently pays around £350 a year.
Philip defended the new charging regime as fairer and more environmentally based than the existing arrangements for charging for rainwater running into the drainage system. His intervention cut little ice.
The Synod passed a motion urging the government to remind Ofwat that it was "inappropriate" for churches and charities to be charged as if they were businesses. The vote was 282 for, none against and a handful of abstentions. Presumably Philip was one of the latter. He would have felt unable to vote against the motions since he had a vested interest as the, ahem, godfather of the regime being attacked...

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