Mayor condemns water boss' parent company payments

The mayor of South Yorkshire has criticised the chief executive of Yorkshire Water for taking £1.3m in extra payments from the firm's parent company, calling it "completely inappropriate".

Labour's Oliver Coppard has been answering questions on BBC Radio Sheffield's monthly Call Coppard phone-in.

He also spoke about Supertram shortages, the Bondi beach attack, a new memorial for the Hillsborough disaster and the rail network.

Read our takeaways from the hour below or listen to the full interview here.

Speaking to the BBC, Yorkshire Water boss Nicola Shaw said "not being transparent" about receiving payments worth £1.3m from the firm's parent company was a "mistake" but the amounts were "not for me to decide".

Ms Shaw received two previously undisclosed payments of £660,000 from Kelda Holdings in 2023-24 and 2024-25, for her role as an executive director.

"I don't think it is appropriate for a company to pay that money out when the system they are managing is failing," Coppard said.

"I've made clear to them my discomfort in what they've done."

He added: "When companies are losing money hand over fist, when they're asking customers to pay huge amounts more in their bills, you can't go paying your chief executive bonuses because frankly, the performance isn't there.

"And yet Yorkshire Water, through a legal loophole, found a way to pay their CEO £1.3m and didn't tell people about it. That is completely and utterly inappropriate."

Ms Shaw said: "I get paid what the board decide I ought to be paid and I think that's right; it shouldn't be for me to decide what that is."

Discussing recent issues on the Supertram network, he said: "This has been a real problem over the last few weeks.

"There is a driver shortage as we have a higher than normal sickness rate, there's a lot of flu going around and we have a 10% sickness rate with drivers. We've had a few drivers retire all at once and that's been a challenge."

He continued: "We've had this perfect storm of problems with the network too - an overhead line went down when all the trams went past, it knocked them out of alignment and those trams had to be fixed.

"We are recruiting a load more drivers, we're offering more overtime and we're looking at making the network more resilient overall."

Discussing the recent mass shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach, Coppard said it had a "slightly different resonance" as he is Jewish.

Fifteen people were killed and dozens of others were injured in the attack, which targeted Australia's Jewish community at an event celebrating the first night of Hanukkah.

"It's a really important festival about the power of lightness over darkness and the role of faith in keeping people together," he said.

"That's what I'm holding on to following that attack."

He continued: "I think all decent people are absolutely appalled by these sorts of attacks, be it in Manchester, Australia or anywhere else.

"It's not just against Jewish people, it's against any minority, any ethnicity, attacking people simply for who they are, going about their lives.

"This Christmas, reach out to your friends and neighbours, particularly those from minority communities - all decent people in South Yorkshire are just trying to get along."

Following the publication of a long-awaited report into the Hillsborough disaster, Coppard was asked about the stadium and its memorial.

"Clive Betts MP recently called for the Leppings Lane stand to be demolished and I will be led by the victims' families," he said.

"I would hope that the new owners, whoever they might be, would have the wherewithal to meet with the families and I'm happy to facilitate that if I can."

He added: "I would like to look at the memorial, because anyone that's been to Hillsborough will have seen it and I don't think it's a fitting tribute to those families.

"We need to do something more poignant that is a better testament to the lives that were lost.

"I would like to speak to the families about that and to Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram and see what we can do in terms of a better, more fitting memorial."

Discussing the region's rail network, he said: "It couldn't be more important to connect South Yorkshire to the other big cities in the north.

"This is a priority for me, because anyone that has tried to use that network between Sheffield and Leeds will have had the experience I've had - standing and waiting, being held outside the stations, and it being a really difficult service.

"Sheffield station in particular is too small, so if we're going to increase the number of trains we need to increase the capacity."

He continued: "Part of the solution is increasing the tram train network to take some of the capacity off the train network. I want to see an improvement in Rotherham, because we've got plans for a station there and that's really important."