A CONTROVERSIAL pre-payment water-card scheme has been outlawed in Wigan council property.

At the recent full council meeting, councillors voted unanimously to refuse North West Water permission to fit any of the devices in their 29,000 homes.

Council leaders launched a scathing attack on the scheme, describing it as a potential danger to public health.

The scheme, which is voluntary, involves fitting a pre-payment device, which householders then activate using a smart card charged with time credits paid for in advance.

And failure to insert a card in to the device, which is not a meter, means that the water supply will be shut off.

Metro leader Peter Smith said he feared it could lead to some low income households cutting their own water off because they couldn't afford to recharge the card, thus bypassing the normal legal proceedings for disconnection.

Twelve devices have already been installed in council homes, and it's believed that two people have already disconnected themselves because they forgot to recharge the card.

Cllr Smith said: "We regard this scheme with grave suspicion. It may be good for shareholders' profits but it is not good for those in need.

"Access to water is essential in a civilised society. There are major public health implications if it is denied.

"There have been several cases locally of the scheme being installed at households where there are children who need frequent supplies of water.

"The cards are charged at local Post Offices and at one office the system has already broken down."

Cllr Smith said the scheme undermined the right of Social Services to help vulnerable people threatened with disconnection because households can be cut off automatically without the statutory court proceedings being followed.

"If the water company wants to disconnect a household it should have to go through proper legal processes and not cut people off by the back door," he added.

The council will now tell North West Water to remove any pre-payment devices that they have already fitted without the agreement of the council as landlord.

It also plans to ask the Housing Associations and private landlords to resist fitting the devices in their properties.

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