A housing developer is being ordered to pay more than £10,000 to Thames Water for allowing illegal water connections at two of its developments.

Bellway Homes has been made to pay back £10,115 for connecting to an unauthorised and unlicenced standpipe on two separate occasions at developments in Greenhithe and Taplow in Buckinghamshire.

The fine is just a small fraction of the £450,000 various companies have been ordered to pay Thames Water in the last seven years, as part of legal costs from contractors, landowners and other third parties who illegally connected to their clean water mains without authorisation.

Since 2017 Thames Water has uncovered 870 illegal connection offences and administered 96 prosecutions.

As part of its efforts to use water effectively, the company is committed and obligated to protect its clean water supply for customers.

With climate change and population growth putting a strain on water resources, Thames Water says it is taking action against those who illegally connect to clean water mains, as “they compromise the integrity of the clean water network and do not pay for their connections, or the water consumed”.

Since 2017 more than 39 separate offences were uncovered and prosecuted and over 500 retrospective charges issued for first offences.

The company says the money is reinvested back into crucial work to provide clean and wastewater services to its customers.

Claire Rumens, Thames Water’s illegal connections manager, said: “Our work to find and stop illegal connections helps us to uncover hundreds of offences and save millions of litres in water and uphold our statutory obligation to protect, control and maintain our clean water network.

“As we ask our customers to use water wisely and have engineers working around the clock to find and fix leaks, we are also doing our part to stop illegal connections to our water supply. We will always look to work with individuals and companies to educate and reduce the risk of re-offending.”

A spokesman for Bellway said: “Bellway has been involved in two standpipe incidents a number of months apart on sites in different parts of the country.

“The incidents are completely unconnected and involved contractor operatives failing to follow our established site procedures.

“We take great pride in our environmental record and have tightened our procedures to prevent this happening.”

To report an illegal connection or unauthorised standpipe connection email illegalconnetions@thameswater.co.uk or call 0800 009 3921.