BALI warns of lost contracts ahead of water company hosepipe ban summit

By Matthew Appleby Thursday, 05 April 2012

BALI, HTA, APL and the Turf Grass Growers Association met all seven water companies on 10 April to discuss hosepipe bans and their threat to the landscape and turf industries.

Landscape contractors have lost up to 60% of work due to hosepipe ban restrictions - image: Morguefile

BALI chief operations officer Wayne Grills, who attended the meeting along with chairman Paul Cowell said:

"BALI members are reporting issues daily in respect of cancelled or postponed contracts and projects’. Individual member companies are reporting potential losses of several hundred thousand pounds worth of stock due to cancelled or postponed contracts/orders.

"The water companies do not appear to have acknowledged the severity of the problems that temporary use bans will bring for the landscape industry in the coming months.

"If this is to continue without some concession and or management from the water companies, we will undoubtedly see businesses beginning to fail and the threat of job losses in the industry looming.

"We are already hearing reports of contracts that have been cancelled or delayed as a result of the bans and we fear that we will see business failures and job losses without further help from the water companies in managing this situation.

"This is also hitting the suppliers within the industry where even if there are no threats of job losses, the cost per unit of products will increase. One BALI member has already reported a potential 60 per cent increase in unit cost in the drought affected areas."

The meeting will be an important opportunity to underline the threat to landscaping and turfgrass professionals and their suppliers who are seeking similar treatment to operators of car washes and other commercial enterprises that rely on water to maintain their service to customers as business users."