Mayor on 'outrageous' £660,000 extra payment to water boss
BBCWest Yorkshire's mayor has expressed outrage at the latest extra payment for Yorkshire Water's top boss.
Tracy Brabin described the £660,000 from Kelda, the utility firm's parent company, to Nicola Shaw as "outrageous" during the Message the Mayor feature on BBC Radio Leeds.
The BBC understands Yorkshire Water will be downgraded to one star out of four - it was previously at two stars - for environmental performance by the Environment Agency.
Read our takeaways from the interview below or listen to it here.
'Pretty shaming for water firm'
"I think it's outrageous (the extra payment).
"And I think being bumped from a two-star to a one-star is pretty shaming. Nobody should be rewarded for that.
"This report has shown that sewer flooding has increased. That repairs to bust water mains, they've missed the targets.
"The total pollution incidents are twice [industry watchdog] OFWAT's target. And the serious pollution incidents are unchanged.
"They've had 13 serious pollution incidents against the OFWAT target of none, zero. That's what we all deserve, zero serious pollution incidents."
A spokesperson for the firm said the past year had been "extremely challenging" and that drought followed by record rainfall had put "significant pressure" on its network.
'New electric buses will be air-conditioned'
The mayor confirmed that all of the 193 new electric buses to be built by UK-based Wrightbus for the publicly controlled county-wide Weaver Network will be air conditioned.
"The new ones, they will have air conditioning.
"However, of course, we will be taking fleet from (existing) bus operators. There will be a process of transition.
"So not every single bus will have air conditioning because there are some old fleet that are then re-purposed for Weaver as we move the fleet through to get fully electric over the next few years."
'Public transport pledge'
The mayor spoke in more detail about the Weaver Network that will be rolled out across the region from next year.
But she conceded that the tram would not be ready until the late 2030s.
"By the end of 2028 the whole of West Yorkshire will have bus franchising and the Weaver Network but we're not stopping there.
"We're also bringing in rail, and of course the tram will be part of it, and our electric bikes will be part of that Weaver brand.
"What I want to see is how London has that seemless travel opportunity.
"So you can just tap in and tap out and you don't really care because you know there is a cap on how much you are going to be paying."
'Make Leeds bus station safer for women'
The mayor heard from Isobel, 22, who lives in Kirkstall and was worried about her safety when trying to get a bus home late at night from Leeds Bus Station.
Brabin said she had been past the terminus only months ago.
"Going past... there was a lot of disruption, and people yelling and explosive conversations and behaviour.
"What I was able to do was to speak to West Yorkshire Police and also our Safer Travel Team and to get more resources down to the bus station.
"Bus stations cannot be a place where women feel unsafe because that's going to be the hub for our region, for Leeds.
"So that's got to be a place where you feel you can go."
'Public control'
Brabin was asked what she would do to make water companies more accountable and better value for the public.
"I really do value Andy Burnham's leadership, because obviously I can't do this on my own.
"But they need to be brought back into public control, or something needs to happen like franchising of the buses where we have more say.
"Our bills are going up and the water quality, or these spillages, are not changing so it's always the public that pay the price."
