http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4593057/Church-raintax-is-crippling-parishes-admits-head-of-Ofwat.html
[Telegraph] 12 Feb 2009--Philip Fletcher, the chairman of Ofwat, is also part of the Church of England's governing body, the General Synod, and faced fellow members to concede that he was the "villain" in the row over the £100million in extra bills being imposed on charities and religious groups.
He defended the new system of charging for the rainwater that lands on roofs and pours into public drains and sewers, claiming it is fair and environmentally friendly.
It treats places of worship, community halls and charity buildings as if they were commercial premises, charging them according to the size of their land rather than their rateable value.
This means that a parish church in Knutsford, Cheshire, now has to pay £10,896 a year for its water, 20 times as much as a nearby Rolls-Royce showroom, while other groups have seen their bills rise by 1,400 per cent in a year.
Related article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/11/water-bills-rainwater-tax
Minister orders water companies to review huge 'rainwater tax' bills - Guardian
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