Water firm CEO's £660k payment 'hard to accept', says surfer

For Steve Crawford, the news that Yorkshire Water's chief executive had received an extra £660,000 payment reopened old wounds.

Crawford ran a surfing school until water pollution in Scarborough's South Bay forced him to shut up shop in 2023.

He said he received no compensation and "hardly a nod" from the water company.

So when he learned that CEO Nicola Shaw had received the payment from parent company Kelda Holdings for work to "secure new investors into the business", he described it as "appalling".

"It makes it really hard for me to accept the fact that they're getting all this extra money when there are times they are causing so much havoc," said Crawford.

Crawford, who is now part of environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage, believes profit had become Yorkshire Water's overriding priority.

"All these private companies, their job is to create money for shareholders," he said.

"So they're not here to give us clean water."

Yorkshire Water rejected this claim, stating it was investing "heavily" to reduce the amount of discharges into watercourses and coastal areas.

The company said it was investing £1.5bn over five years to improve more than 480 storm overflows across the region, following an earlier £180m programme.

The company said the investment had helped reduce storm overflow discharges by 24.5% in 2025, after a 12% reduction in 2024, and that further projects, including a £250m programme along the Yorkshire coast, were planned.

"It is important to note that water quality can be impacted by many factors beyond storm overflow operation, but we're working with local stakeholders and community groups to identify and tackle these to do everything that we can to improve the health of our rivers," a spokesperson said.

Yorkshire Water has been under significant scrutiny in recent years, largely because of pollution, the 2025 hosepipe ban and rising water bills.

The company is also set to be downgraded to a one-star rating by the Environment Agency.

Shaw previously came under fire for receiving similar payments between 2023 and 2025, which had not been disclosed, and which prompted a review by Ofwat.

The regulator, which has since banned the payment of unjustified bonuses, said it would not hesitate to take action where breaches were found.

Karen Shackleton, from Ilkley Clean River Group, said the extra payment was a "rebranding" to "get around the system".

"The only way to actually hold these companies to account is by re-nationaling the water companies because Ofwat can't stop these bonuses and they're still failing our environment catastrophically," she said.

Lisa Daniels, 58, is one of several people who feel the extra payment to Shaw was unjust in light of rising water bills, arguing the money should have been invested in improving infrastructure instead.

Daniels is one of 20 householders in Wakefield Road, Barnsley, who were affected by severe flooding due to a burst water main three weeks ago.

She said she was now facing an £18,000 bill after her 25-metre garden wall was washed away and her daughter's hybrid car written off due to water damage.

"How she [Shaw] can take a bonus when they've been downgraded to one star for environmental - I don't know how she sleeps at night," said Daniels.

Daniels, who has Crohn's disease and uses a stoma bag, said during the loss of her water supply she was unable to use her bathroom, adding that Yorkshire Water offered her just two bottles of water despite temperatures reaching about 30C that day.

Over the last three weeks, she said she had spent £2,000 to replace belongings and to buy equipment, leaving her struggling to meet her mortgage and household bills.

"All this extra expense has just thrown us into turmoil," she said.

"We are not eating, we're not sleeping, mental health is absolutely at rock bottom.

"The shareholders need to know what kind of company they are shareholders of - I'd be embarrassed if I was a shareholder."

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said a case manager had been assigned for affected customers in Wakefield Road to assist with claims or ongoing issues.

"We understand incidents of this nature are distressing for customers and apologise for the inconvenience, and where customers feel that support has not been good enough," the spokesperson said.

Dr Michael Aldous, business historian at Queen's University, Belfast, said leading a major utility company was a complex role, with chief executives responsible for both long-term strategy and the day-to-day running of the business.

He said CEOs had to balance commercial performance, customer service, environmental responsibilities and regulatory requirements, while making major investment decisions that can take decades to deliver results.

Often, he said, CEOs are no longer in post by the time improvements start to materialise.

"It's like thinking about politicians working on short-term electoral cycles," he said.

"They're operating in an environment where they have relatively short periods of time and a lot of pressure on them to improve short-term outcomes."

Aldous, who grew up in Bradford and co-authored The CEO: The Rise and Fall of Britain's Captains of Industry, said an extra payment made during a difficult year may reflect the board's desire to retain Shaw.

"They believe that although there are performance issues and difficulties, she is actually doing a good job to address this and they believe in her strategic plan," he said.

"But clearly that's going to create a narrative that is problematic when it's presented publicly."

For people like Crawford, the thought that Shaw was "doing a good job" was of little comfort.

"If Nicola would like my bank details, I'll take a few percent so I can continue to pay my bills [due to] being unemployed because of her company's lack of ability to do stuff," he said.

"1% would probably do me for a little while, to be honest."

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