A councillor is calling for compensation from Southern Water after the company was fined discharges raw sewage into the sea.
Green councillor Pete West is asking fellow councillors to support his call to ask the water company to fund Brighton and Hove’s public toilets or pay equivalent compensation.
Councillor West plans to propose a motion at a town hall meeting on Thursday (20 July) asking councillors to note residents’ outrage that raw sewage had been dumped in the sea.
He wants every party standing at the next general election to commit to bringing water companies into public ownership.
Brighton and Hove City Council has published the text of Councillor West’s motion. It said: “Residents are rightly concerned that the city’s sea, waterways and water supplies are unsafe to use and damaging to natural habitats and the environment.
“Southern Water was privatised in 1989 which subjects vital supplies of water to market pressures in order to generate profit for shareholders.
“The combination of defunding, deregulation and privatisation is obliterating services across our country and allowing water companies to dump sewage with relative impunity.
“Public ownership of water is an essential step to fix this systemic problem as it would ensure that water companies’ purpose is to deliver clean water to residents rather than profits to shareholders.
“Following the work of campaign groups such as Surfers Against Sewage and the previous administration, the city needs accountability and compensation from Southern Water.”
In 2021, Southern Water was fined £90 million for widespread pollution after pleading guilty to 6,971 unpermitted sewage discharges from 17 sites in Hampshire, Kent and West Sussex from 2010 to 2015.
The offences came to light as part of the Environment Agency’s largest-ever criminal investigation which started after shellfish were found to be contaminated with e.coli.
But Southern Water said that there had been no sewage discharges near Brighton and Hove, in part thanks to a seven-mile (11km) storm drain – Europe’s largest – and the Peacehaven water treatment works.
Outfalls at Rottingdean and Friars Bay, in Peacehaven, are both more than a mile – or 1,700 metres – out to sea.
Southern Water said: “There were no releases from Southern Water’s storm overflows which would have an impact on Brighton’s bathing waters last year.
“Our evidence shows the decline in sea water quality score tracks to a single bad sample over the bank holiday weekend in August 2022 when water quality was affected by very high rates of seagull e.coli.
“A 59 per cent increase in visitors to Brighton beach in 2022 has put huge pressure on an area already used to large crowds on hot days.
“Finding ways to keep Brighton’s stunning seafront beautiful and safe requires partnership work to ensure we remain resilient to cope with the many visitors who are so important to Brighton’s economy.”
An algae bloom in Hove and cooling water from Shoreham Power Station have also been mistaken for sewage.
Councillor West’s motion is due to be debated at a meeting of the full council which is due to start at 4.30pm on Thursday (20 July) at Hove Town Hall. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
A ‘motion’ on ‘sewage’?
Will it get passed…..
Better do what Pete says – if he doesn’t get his way, it will be tantrum time!
Does Councillor West have any evidence to support his claims, or is he just jumping on another Green Party populist bandwagon?
It appears, and the SAS app seems to confirm, that there have been no discharges along the city’s beaches. There may well have been elsewhere but that is for the relevant councils to deal with.
Wow. A Councillor suggests the job of a water company should be to provide clean water to residents, in light of £90 million sewage fines, and you guys seem to think the Councillor is wrong!?!?
If it doesn’t apply to the area he was elected to represent then – no – it’s nothing to do with him.
Perhaps Green councillors from WSCC or ESCC would like to raise the matter relating to their relevant water authorities.
The Greens were rather unceremoniously thrown out in May because they showed little concern for residents’ local issues. If this is not a local issue, Pete West should learn from previous mistakes and not waste Council time by trying to score points. By all means refer to ESCC and WSCC
Protest the incompetent criminal water companies,
STRIKE
DONT PAY YOUR WATER BILLS
So no one from Cllr West’s area swims in the sea then? And no one drinks any tap water apparently. Have you got shares in Southern Water by any chance?
What is wrong with the quality of of tap water and the quality of sea water in Brighton and Hove?
And no, I don’t have shares in Southern Water, but I do like to check facts and understand the situation rather than just jumping on bandwagons for political reasons.
I also try to respond to the correct comment 😊