Priest says water row has been a ‘nightmare’
For four years, Father Stan Pamula has been the parish priest for St Mary’s RC Church in Arisaig, yet despite his protests to the contrary, he says Scottish Water has continued to insist he is running a restaurant in the village and keeps issuing utility bills to that effect.
Now fed up with what he describes as the annual ‘harassment’ by the organisation’s Business Stream commercial division, Father Stan this week contacted the Lochaber Times in a last-ditch attempt to get the matter resolved.
‘The church has always been automatically exempt from water charges. That arrangement has been working fine everywhere, but not here at Arisaig,’ he explained.
‘We have been getting charged for a single tap in the vestry so I started investigating and found we had three water supply ID points assigned to us – for the church hall, the church and the adjoining house.
‘But there was also a mysterious fourth water ID point allocated to the church and I eventually discovered this is actually the one for a restaurant in Arisaig.
‘So for the past three years I have been trying to prove to Scottish Water Business Stream that this is not our water supply point and the church is located in a completely different part of the village. It would seem the church has been paying for this fourth metering point for at least 15 years and I reckon that’s cost the church about £4,000.
‘Also, twice a year I have all the hassle with them [Scottish Water Business Stream] claiming I am running a restaurant premises here and have to prove I don’t actually have a restaurant. They basically don’t care.
‘It is unbelievable. It’s not the restaurant’s problem to sort out, it’s for Scottish Water to deal with, but no-one wants to admit a mistake has been made.
‘For a small parish like this, it’s a huge amount of money every year. I’m exhausted by it all.
‘It’s been a nightmare to deal with.’
Asked to look into the matter by the Lochaber Times earlier this week, Scottish Water responded less than 24 hours later when a spokesperson said: ‘As a charitable organisation which is eligible for exemption, St Mary’s does not have to pay water charges, provided exemption is applied for by the church which, unfortunately, has not happened in this case.
‘We believe this has been due to confusion around supply points. We have now arranged for exemption to be applied and backdated to St Mary’s but this will need to be re-applied for annually by the church.
‘We understand Father Pamula’s concern relating to the supply point in question. However, the issue appears to have been caused by too many supply points being historically registered to the church.
‘These surplus supply points will be removed from the market to avoid any future confusion and the meter appearing on St Mary’s bills has been verified as being physically located in and supplying the church.’
‘It’s a huge amount of money each year. I’m exhausted by it all.’