Yorkshire Water Chief Nicola Shaw to Step Down on 1 January

Yorkshire Water chief executive Nicola Shaw is leaving the company. She announced the decision on Friday, 24 hours after the Environment Agency gave the firm its lowest possible environmental rating.

Shaw has run the company since 2022. She will go on 1 January. Nicola Medalova, a chartered environmental health officer who previously worked for National Grid, will replace her.

Medalova is a former non-executive director on the company's board. She joins on Monday for a transition period and takes over as chief executive full time in the new year.

Shaw said it had been a "privilege" to lead Yorkshire Water and that it was the "right time" to leave. She added that "a huge amount of work" remains to be done.

Rating and pay under scrutiny

On Thursday the Environment Agency awarded the company one star out of four and classed it as a "poorly performing company". The agency said Yorkshire Water was responsible for 260 pollution incidents in 2025, its highest total since 2011. In 2024 the regulator Ofwat announced a £47m fine for historic sewage leaks.

Shaw has also faced criticism over £1.9m in undisclosed payments between 2023 and 2026. Yorkshire Water's parent company, Kelda Holdings, made the payments for what the firm described as "investor engagement" and "financial oversight". Ofwat said they were not performance-related.

Last December Shaw said that "not being transparent" about £1.3m in shareholder-funded payments, received in two instalments, had been a "mistake". She insisted the amounts were "not for me to decide". She received a further £660,000 earlier this year.

The payments came to light in August last year, when the government banned Yorkshire Water and five other water companies from paying "unfair" bonuses to their bosses.

Reaction

Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said Shaw should have gone "much earlier". He said: "Good riddance. Nicola Shaw oversaw abysmal management of our precious natural resources, trashing our rivers while receiving an eye-watering salary."

Robbie Moore, the Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley, said her resignation "could not have come quick enough". He has asked for an urgent meeting with Medalova to ask how she plans to improve the company's performance.

Naomi Tilley of Surfers Against Sewage said "systematic change" was needed. In her words, "Regardless of who the CEO is, there's sewage entering the sea and the water companies are failing."

Source: BBC News