Anthony Mangnall MP writes to South West Water CEO to demand further action to tackle sewage pollution
Anthony Mangnall MP has today written to Susan Davy, CEO of South West Water to demand accelerated action to tackle sewage pollution in Totnes and South Devon.
This comes as South West Water have committed £32 million to accelerate efforts to reduce the use of storm overflows. Industry body WaterUK has also published a Storm Overflow Action Plan, setting out how the water industry in England will reduce spills from storm overflows. This is accompanied by an interactive dashboard which shows the current plan for every single storm overflow in England. This includes 88 storm overflows with spill improvements planned in the South Hams, which are forecast to prevent 3,982 spills in 2030 and 5,119 in 2050.
However, Anthony Mangnall MP has written to the CEO of South West Water, Susan Davy, to push for more investment to be delivered faster, to ensure that pollution is reduced and all storm overflows comply with their spill targets as soon as possible.
Anthony Mangnall MP commented, ‘I welcome the £32 million investment to cut overflows by 68% in the South Hams by 2030, which shows that our plan is working. But I have been clear that South West Water must go further and faster to tackle the completely unacceptable pollution in Totnes and South Devon.
They have a responsibility to deliver for bill payers and today’s announcement is a demonstration of the lack of leadership at the helm of South West Water on this issue.
That is why I have today written to Susan Davy, the CEO of South West Water to express my concerns around the speed of investment being delivered and to request tougher action.’
Today’s intervention comes after the Government has recently announced a tough new inspections and enforcement regime. We have already increased our oversight of water companies and the EA have carried out over 930 inspections to date in this financial year.
But the Government is going further and the number of inspections, including unannounced inspections where officers have powers to gain forcible entry where needed and appropriate, will rise to 4,000 by the end of March 2025 – a fourfold increase. From April 2026, the number of inspections will rise further to 10,000 per year.
This is in addition to a ban on bonuses for executives of water companies found to have committed a serious breach of the criminal law.
Find the National Storm Overflow Plan here: https://www.water.org.uk/overflows-plan