Yorkshire Water environmental rating to be downgraded to one star

Image description: Three emoticon faces in a column with checkboxes. The faces are colour coded green (happy), yellow (neutral) and red (sad). Image by Adrian from Pixabay

Yorkshire Water is set to be given the l owest possible environmental rating by the Environment Agency (EA) after a significant increase in pollution incidents, the BBC reports.

The EA is expected to formally downgrade the company from two stars out of four to just one, changing its classification to a “poor performing company” for its impact on the environment.

The utility company, which serves 2.4 million homes in the region, said its environmental performance was “not where it needs to be”.

The BBC reports the company pledged to spend £8.3bn over five years on improvements, but customers’ bills would provide the main source of funding to achieve that figure.

70% rise in pollution incidents from 2024-2025

The new figures published by the regulator showed Yorkshire Water was responsible for 260 pollution incidents in 2025, up from 151 the year before – a rise of more than 70% and the highest total since 2011. The BBC reports it also failed to complete six legally required environmental schemes in west Leeds on time.

Yorkshire Water’s poor environmental performance has also sparked scrutiny over the pay of its current chief executive, Nicola Shaw. The BBC reports she received £732,000 from Yorkshire Water in the year to March 2026. Shaw reportedly also received three further payments over the past three years totalling £1.98m from Kelda Holdings, the Jersey-registered parent firm of the water company, which the industry regulator Ofwat ruled were not performance-related pay.

Yorkshire water and Government response

Stephanie Pullan, Yorkshire Water Director of Asset Management, said: “Our pollution performance isn’t where it needs to be, and we haven’t delivered on time six of our Water Industry National Environment Programme schemes.” She said the company was “looking at our operational performance, making sure that we’re being as predictive as we can be”, as well as “investing in the long-term and our assets”.

Yorkshire Water told BBC News that Shaw was not available to be interviewed about the EA’s decision. Pullan said the chief executive was meeting Ofwat.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions before Wednesday’s Budget, York Outer Labour MP Luke Charters mentioned he had seen “sewage pouring into the River Ouse whilst doing a BBC interview on pollution”, before calling for “stronger public control” of the region’s water. In his response, Prime Minister Andy Burnham described the water industry as “a symbol of what has gone wrong”.