CAMPAIGNERS held an “emergency board meeting” outside the Royal Courts of Justice today, calling for greater consultation on the crisis at Thames Water.

A table was set up outside the court in a stunt organised by We Own It and Compass, which called for the creation of an emergency board to provide public scrutiny and input on plans for the water privateer’s future. 

Campaigners suggested that such a board could be similar to that of publicly owned Paris Water, which includes local elected representatives, workers and civil society groups.

The theatrical protest saw councillors from across the Thames Valley join representatives of environmental groups, including Greenpeace and the Sewage Campaign Network, as well as unions such as Unison and Acorn. 

It took place on the first day of a Court of Appeal case brought by Liberal Democrat MP Charlie Maynard against the £3 billion bailout of Thames Water.

Last month, the court approved the mammoth loan to the firm, which already has debts totalling £19bn, to prevent it from falling into special administration and temporary nationalisation.

The sum is expected to keep it running until next year.

A sky-high 9.75 per cent interest rate means that the loan could incur as much as £800 million in interest and fees alone.

We Own It warned that bill payers will be left to shoulder the burden and suggested that the loan could add an extra £250 a year to the average bill.

Lead campaigner Matthew Topham said: “As the saying goes: ‘if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.’ 

“Right now, Thames Water, a vital utility serving a quarter of the UK, is being devoured by powerful corporate interests and the public have been completely sidelined in the process. 

“It’s high time the 82 per cent of us who want water in public ownership got a seat at the table.”

Between 1989, when Thames Water was privatised, and 2022, the firm siphoned off £7.2bn in dividend payments.

London Assembly Member Krupesh Hirani, representing Brent and Harrow, said: “Thames Water uses the income of millions of Londoners to pay its debts, dividends and directors’ pay.

“If costly additional loans or new shareholders are being considered, representatives of the public, industry workers and the environmental experts must have a seat at the table.”

In written submissions, Mr Maynard’s barrister William Day said that the current plan should be “rejected on the basis that its terms and cost are much worse for the Thames Water Group … than rescue by special administration.”