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Catch of The Day

Take your action to the water regulator - Ofwat

Overview

Ofwat consistently fail to properly regulate the market and approve water company’s financial models; which allow those water companies to take out massive loans to pay dividends and bonuses whilst failing to invest in the vital infrastructure we need.

They fail to take action against the illegal dumping of raw sewage and the fines they levy are so pitiful the water companies would rather pay them than pay to upgrade the infrastructure and fix the problems.

Ofwat and the water companies enjoy a far too cosy relationship and there is a revolving door of staff flowing between the regulator and the water companies.

Location

Ofwat's London office
Ofwat’s head office is on Westferry Street, London. [see “recce notes” at the end of this page]

Alternative location

Ofwat's Birmingham Headquarters
The Birmingham office looks like a good alternative for this action – images on Google Maps show it to be in a large government building in the city centre, with a good amount of space outside and two revolving doors into the building.

Action Design

'Catch of the Day' stand – use a gazebo and some tables, create a fake market fish stand, selling today’s catch – dirty nappies, used condoms, soiled wet wipes, and anything and everything we find polluting our rivers.

  • Rebels dress as fish market traders and shout for people to buy today’s “Catch of the Day”.
  • This is a visual and humorous way of highlighting the issue, which from afar will look like an ordinary market stand (albeit in an unusual location).
  • Shouting - catch of the day - in a market trader manner will highlight the action to those further away, increasing the reach.
  • This is not designed as a spicy action however you could incorporate spicy elements if there is a desire to do so.
Other things you could include:
  • Utilise the revolving doors, e.g. signs on one saying 'Ofwat staff in', sign on the other saying 'Water Company staff out'
  • Use 'Climate Crime Scene' tape around the building
  • Take a box of today’s catch inside to offer to staff
Hand a demand to the regulator
  • Write a letter to their CEO and make them take it on the day of the action
  • The exact contents of the letter are up to you but it could include one, or all of the following:
    • A brief overview of their lack of action to date
    • What we think they should do in the immediate short term to stop the water companies from continuing as they are (ban dividend and bonus payments until water companies stop the illegal dumping of sewage)
    • Tighten up the current regulations that allow the water companies to lawfully rate beaches and swimming spots as “excellent” despite sewage being dumped there
    • Weak punishments for illegal activity and very low fines
    • Include your thoughts on the too-cosy relationship between them and the water companies.
An extension to the design
  • Have rebels dress in 'Catch of the Day' branded t-shirts
  • Give free lunch vouchers out to commuters getting off the train in the morning – act as though it’s a completely normal new start-up that’s opening and is giving away free lunches as part of the launch. This should help bring more people to the action and enable us to engage with them on the issue.
  • This will require some rebels to get to London early – between 7-9am to get vouchers out to commuters.

Messaging The messaging needs to be carefully considered and needs input from the action planning group, there are several issues we could focus on, trying to cover them all is likely to dilute any individual message, so choosing one or two may be a better option (The accuracy of this list needs to be checked):

  • Issue of bonuses and dividends being paid without the investment in infrastructure
  • Extremely week punishment for those who dump sewage illegally and ineffectual fines
  • Water companies being allowed to rate beaches and swimming spots as ‘excellent’ despite the sewage being dumped – poor testing procedures. (not sure if this falls under ofwat or the enviro agency??)
  • Revolving door between the water companies and the regulator Assets
  • Gazebo
  • Table(s)
  • Plastic trays
  • Fake ice
  • Today’s “catch” – nappies, tampons, wet wipes, fake poos, old shopping trolley etc
  • Signs for the stall
  • Blackboard with today’s menu (or is it possible to have a brown board??)
  • Dirty Water Banner
  • Placards
  • Brown Smoke?
  • Leaflets
  • Branded T-shirts for voucher people
  • “Free Lunch” vouchers
  • Climate Crime scene tape(?) Roles
  • Action co-ordinator
  • Fish stall staff – to be behind the stall an to be shouting from the front – could also have people carrying trays of today’s “catch” – 3-5 people
  • Banner holders
  • PL
  • Photographer
  • Spokes person
  • Live streamer(?) / Videogrpaher(?)
  • Wellbeing
  • Outreach & leafletters
  • XR Rhythms
  • PSS (if spicy elements included)
  • M&M support Possible future uses The “catch of the day” stall can be easily replicated elsewhere by other groups. We could even look to take it to actual markets as a fun way to communicate the issue to the public. Recce notes: They the office with a number of other businesses – including the Civil Aviation Authority and HM Court & Tribunals service (so possibly a good place to bookmark for future as yet unknown actions) The entrance has two rotating doors plus normal doors either side. There is a large reception serving all businesses in the building. There is a covered walkway with large planters which divide the entrance from the main pavement. There are two CCTV cameras on the walkway although only one is operational, the other is pointing at the floor: This camera does not work, points straight to the floor Stall should be set up on the main pavement, lots of space, we’re still right outside: We could put Ofwat signs on the pillars on the left, it will be more obvious who we’re targeting. There is no signage for Ofwat other than the wall board behind the reception desk. With regards to dropping kit off, It is possible to drive a van right up to the pavement and unload right outside. The potential issues here are that as canary wharf is private there are security points you must drive through. This one is hidden behind the blue truck but it’s a booth with 2 security people in it. There is an underground carpark within a few mins walk of the target, which is an alternative, we could park in there an walk the kit to the target. For muster points, there’s a few options. We could meet near Canary Wharf tube station, it’s about 10 mins walk to the target but will be fairly inconspicuous because there’s a lot of people milling around and meeting there anyway. The walk from the tube to the target goes past a security booth (for vehicles) and passes lots of CCTV. Not sure if that’s a concern or not but I think it is more so being on the private canary wharf land than general London streets. There are several routes you could take so rebels wouldn’t have to walk together: Alternatively there’s a muster point much closer to the target (not quite sure why this map is showing the route walking the long way around the roundabout, you don’t have to). It’s on the upper level of this roundabout, and hidden from the security booth. Downside is it may be a bit close to the target for a big group of rebels to meet.
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