Who's on the WaterShare+ Panel?

An independent WaterShare+ Advisory Panel has been established to protect the interests of our customers. The Panel provides an independent review of our business plan commitments and Board Pledges.

Lord Matthew Taylor

Lord Matthew Taylor was a member of Parliament until he stood down in 2010. He has a passion for sustainable planning and housing policy. Matthew continues to advise government, and he runs his own consultancy business advising on a significant number of major new sustainable ‘garden community’ projects across the UK.

Following a decade of working in the water sector as a Non-Executive Director at South West Water, focused on improving customer outcomes, Matthew continues to champion customer interests by holding the company to account as the independent WaterShare+ Chair.

“The critical thing is the Panel independently can analyse what the company is doing to make sure they are delivering on the promises they made to their customers”

Nick Buckland

Nick continues to champion the needs of customers having successively chaired the previous independent WaterShare and WaterFuture Panels, overseeing and challenging delivery and development of South West Water’s business plans.

Nick brings a wealth of experience to the role, he is an experienced and highly regarded leader, chair and board member.

“It gives customers the opportunity to engage with the company and see how the company is run, it’s a positive and transparent move”

Peaches Golding OBE

Peaches Golding OBE is the independent deputy chair of the Watershare+ Panel and independent chair of the Bristol Water Customer Challenge Panel. She is His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for Bristol, Vice President of the Royal Society of St George.

Anthony Denham

Anthony became a champion for water customers in the Southwest when he joined WaterVoice. Since 2015 he's been Deputy Chair of the independent Bristol Water Challenge Panel where he leads the challenge to the water company on behalf of customers.

Carole Theobald

Carole has worked in the public and charitable sectors in Cornwall for more than 18 years. Carole is currently the Chief Executive at SightCornwall, a leading sight loss charity supporting more than 4,000 people each year and Non-Executive Member of the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care System for quality, citizen engagement and equalities.

Carole is a highly versatile senior leader with a wealth of experience in customer advocacy.

"An advisory panel of this type is a new concept and provides an additional dimension and purpose to engagement and involvement by putting the interests of customers at the heart of South West Water’s ‘New Deal’."

Richard Lacey

For the last five years, Richard has chaired the Bournemouth Water Customer View Group ensuring that the company delivers against its promises, he was instrumental in ensuring services to Bournemouth Water customers were not impacted when South West Water acquired the company in 2016. Richard continues to ensure that Bournemouth Water’s customer needs are considered on the WaterShare+ Advisory Panel.

Richard is a Chartered Civil Engineer with a lifetime’s experience in the Water Supply Industry both in the UK and overseas, where he has held both Executive and Non-Executive Directorships in water companies.

“The Panel is there to look after the customers interests and to challenge the company on its performance”

Ben Harper

Ben aspired to a career in travel and hospitality from a young age and followed a degree in Tourism and French with sales and marketing roles at Eurostar and British Airways. He progressed to SACO The Serviced Apartment Company (now Edyn Group), where he was part of the leadership team which pioneered the Aparthotel concept and launched the Locke Aparthotel brand. During this rapid period of growth, the company moved from family ownership through a private equity cycle and onto its sale to Brookfield Asset Management in January 2018.

Ben is now CEO at Watergate Bay Hotel, Beach Retreats and Another Place, where he has seen the domestic leisure market rejuvenated, creating the opportunity for strong, high-quality brands.

Dinah Cox OBE

Dinah Cox OBE lives just outside Exeter and Devon has been her home for nearly 10 years.

She is a Non-Executive Director of the Devon Partnership NHS Trust and a Non-Executive Director for Devon and Cornwall Police. She also chairs Devon Community Foundation, supporting the work of community initiatives across the county and is a member of the National Trust South West Regional Advisory Group. The first 50 years of her life were spent in London where she studied social policy and gained over twenty years’ experience working to influence, develop and fund social change both in paid and trustee work for charities. She also worked for Government as a Senior Policy Advisor and as the first head of the Royal College of Nursing Foundation.

She is committed to seeing a more equitable world where people from all backgrounds get the opportunity to achieve their potential.